Half of English cancer cases ‘diagnosed at late stage’

A new report from Cancer Research UK has raised concerns that too many cancer cases in England are being diagnosed at too late a stage to be treated most effectively.

According to the study, 46 percent of cancers are picked up when they are already at an advanced stage, when they are harder to successfully treat. It was estimated that if the best national levels of early diagnosis were delivered across the country, an extra 5,000 patients would be alive five years after diagnosis.

Moreover, this could save the NHS more than 44 million pounds in treatment costs and benefit over 11,000 patients each year. Extrapolating this to all types of cancer would imply an annual saving of nearly 210 million pounds.

These potential benefits and savings are likely to be even larger when taking into account the expected growth in the numbers of people diagnosed with cancer over the next 15 years.

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, said: "This report shows yet again why we must do more to ensure patients begin treatment as early as possible, so that we improve cancer survival in this country."

This comes after the charity urged the government to commit to greater investment for NHS cancer services earlier this month, in order to ensure their continued sustainability.