GPs ‘fail’ to spot cancer in kidneys

A CHARITY has called for a national screening programme for kidney cancer as it emerged doctors are missing almost half of all cases.

Research shows 48 per cent of patients are already at the most advanced stages of the disease by the time they are diagnosed.

It can often be cured if it is caught early but just five per cent of patients who progress to the final stages of the disease will live beyond five years.

Nick Turkentine, chief executive of Kidney Cancer UK, said a national screening programme is “urgently needed” to catch cases much earlier. “These findings are a wake up call,” he said. “It is now time for action. We need to introduce a screening programme for those at risk.

“Where screening has been put in place with other cancers such as breast there has been a reduction in the number of deaths.”

Despite advances in treatment such as