Cancer action plan to supercharge screening, diagnosis and treatment is needed to avoid 20,000 deaths a year, charity warns

Britain ‘can and must’ improve screening, diagnosis and treatment to improve cancer survival rates, experts say.

Cancer Research UK has urged more action to speed up diagnosis, get people treated quickly and recruit an additional 16,000 full-time cancer staff by 2029.

The charity warned that the NHS target of diagnosing three-quarters of cancer cases at the earliest stages by 2028 will not be met.

But it is said that 20,000 lives could be saved in Britain every year if the government adopts a bold new plan against cancer, including a smoking ban for the younger generation.

In its new report, the charity has called for stronger action and the creation of a national cancer council accountable to the Prime Minister.

Analysis shows how many years of life an average cancer patient in Britain is expected to lose

NHS figures on cancer waiting times, meanwhile, showed every single national target was missed again in September. Fewer than six in ten cancer patients (59.3 percent) were seen within the two-month target in September

“Across Britain, cancer waiting times are consistently missed, and some have not been met for more than a decade,” the report said.

‘As they await diagnosis and treatment, patients and their families face an anxious and worrying time.

‘Investments in prevention, NHS staff, equipment and facilities are needed to turn the tide.’

Although cancer survival rates have doubled over the past fifty years, Britain lags behind most peer countries when it comes to cancer outcomes.

Previously poor performers such as Denmark and Australia are now ‘ahead’ of Britain, which the country attributes to a steady flow of central funding and effective long-term plans.

Cancer inequality among those diagnosed with and dying from cancer is high, with more than 33,000 cases per year in the UK attributable to deprivation, the report said.

But Professor Sir Mike Richards, a former national cancer director at the Department of Health who now advises NHS England, said these problems are ‘solvable’.

He attributed the poor survival to a combination of diagnosing people too late and inconsistencies in treatment, both of which can be corrected.

He told a briefing: ‘The problem in the late phase is big. Nearly half of all cancer patients are diagnosed at stages three and four. They have a poor prognosis compared to those in phases one and two.

‘We are currently not on track for the government’s target of diagnosing 75 per cent of cases (at an early stage) by 2028.

“There is a lot we can do: we can improve our screening programs, we can improve our diagnosis of symptomatic patients and we can reduce treatment disparities.”

He said breast screening in Britain ‘could be better’ by improving uptake and suggested the age of the bowel screening program should be lowered from 60 to 50, with more people sent for colonoscopies.

NHS England has set the sensitivity threshold for the FIT stool test at 120ug/g (micrograms of blood per gram of stool), but Prof Richards said this should be lowered to 80ug/g in agreement with Scotland.

He said, ‘Why don’t we do that? Colonoscopy capacity has been the rate-limiting factor.

‘We train more, but we also have to triage patients so that the existing capacity is used to maximum effect.’

More CT scanners, radiographers, radiologists and thoracic surgeons are needed to help fight lung cancer, he added.

While the Covid pandemic has generally achieved cancer targets, they were already on the decline, he added.

In its report, Cancer Research UK says funding is needed to close the £1 billion gap in cancer research over the next decade.

It said the share of publicly funded research, as opposed to charity, is the lowest of all serious conditions, despite having one of the highest costs of disease.

Within a year of the next general election, ministers should have raised the age for selling tobacco products and implemented 2022 legislation on television and online advertising restrictions on foods high in fat, salt and sugar, the report said.

CEO Michelle Mitchell said: “Cancer is the defining health problem of our time. Avoiding thousands of cancer deaths is possible, but requires leadership, political will, investment and reforms.

‘The impact of cancer is enormous. We estimate that by 2040, half a million people – friends, colleagues and loved ones – will be diagnosed with the disease every year. Their lives are at risk if we don’t act now.’