UK’S CANCER CARE SHAME
We’re bottom of survival league table, despite endless pledges
BRITAIN has come bottom of an international league for cancer survival rates.
The damning study found patients with five common types of the disease are more likely to die than they would be in countries with similar health systems.
Researchers analysed data detailing almost four million cases of cancer over 20 years.
Although the UK’s performance has improved, it still lags behind six other developed states on five-year survival rates.
Published in the Lancet Oncology journal, the study also found Britain had the worst one-year rates for some of the most deadly cancers. Experts and charities blamed late diagnosis and shortages of specialist staff.
A report this month revealed that more than 100,000 patients a year – half the total – are diagnosed after their cancer has spread.
Some see their doctor three times without the disease being spotted, according to a study released in 2017.
‘We will not see the necessary improvements in diagnosis and access to treatment unless we have enough of the right staff,’ said Sara Hiom of Cancer Research UK.
‘We have been calling for staff shortages to be addressed because, quite simply, it will give people a better chance of surviving.’
Among the many pledges for action was a Government strategy published in 2011 aiming to match survival rates around Europe.
But the latest research shows Britain compares very poorly with six nations that have universal healthcare systems: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway. Survival rates were examined for
seven types of cancer – bowel, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, stomach, rectal and gullet – between 1995 and 2014.
It showed that the UK success rate at both one and five years after diagnosis had improved across all seven types over the period.
However, Britain still lagged behind and the most up-todate figures – for 2010 to 2014 – put this country bottom for five-year survival in all but ovarian and gullet cancer.
The UK had the worst rate for stomach cancer (20.8 per cent) while Australia had the best (32.8 per cent).
In Australia, 70.8 per cent of patients lived for at least five years after diagnosis with bowel cancer – again the highest. The UK was bottom of the table with 58.9 per cent. Australia also had the highest survival for rectal cancer. Canada fared best for lung cancer.
On one-year survival, Britain’s figures were worst for the four fastest killers: lung, bowel, stomach and rectal cancer.
Dr John Butler, a co-author of the study and consultant surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, said: ‘The good news is that cancer survival is improving in the UK, but there is more work to be done. For colon cancer, for example, the five-year survival rate in the UK is the same seen in Australia 20 years ago.
‘For lung cancer, the rate is the same seen in Canada in the late 1990s. Problems include a lack of capacity, staffing shortages and late diagnosis, that all are being addressed.
‘Australia doesn’t really have waiting lists for scans, it has more capacity to do complex operations, so has better survival rates for people over 75 than the UK, and has a healthier population.
‘It’s vital that we learn from other countries that have better survival so that we can push our outcomes to be the best in the world.’
Cancer Research UK, which managed the study, has blamed the staffing crisis and late diagnosis. One in ten diagnostic posts are vacant and 1,700 radiologists are thought to be needed in the next decade.
Ann McMahon of the Royal College of Nursing said: ‘Cancer nurses play a vital role in providing treatments such as chemotherapy – today’s report shows the distressing consequences of failure to invest in this crucial workforce.’
The improvements in treatment were especially marked for rectal cancer, which saw five-year survival rates rise 14 percentage points between 1995 and 2014. Similar improvements were achieved with bowel cancer.
A Department of Health spokesman said last night: ‘Cancer survival rates are at a record high, but we are determined to go further.
‘Through our NHS Long Term Plan, we will detect more cancers at an earlier stage. The record £33.9billion extra a year we’re investing in our NHS will help.’
An NHS England spokesman pointed to improvements in treatment such as proton beam therapy and immunotherapy.
Britain should come bottom in a new league table of cancer survival rates is both shameful and deeply troubling. The major cause is that more than 100,000 patients a year are diagnosed too late. This may be partly due to NHS staffing issues. But diagnosis begins at the local surgery. If these figures are to improve, patients must be more willing to have symptoms looked into, and GPs must be quicker to send them to hospital for proper investigation.