Britain '25 years behind for cancer survival'

CANCER survival rates in Britain are a quarter of a century behind those in other nations, shameful figures show.

- Giles Sheldrick

The perilous state of diagnosis, treatment and care is laid bare in figures revealing we have only just reached levels Sweden, Norway and Denmark hit in the early 2000s.

The emergency, years in the making, has sparked demands from more than 50 cancer charities for a national strategy to turn the crisis around.

Cancer now affects more than three million people, and half of us will be affected by it at some point.

But experts say that if the UK's survival rates matched the best in Europe, tens of thousands of the 390,000 diagnosed each year would live for at least five more years.

Gemma Peters, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Behind the shocking data are thousands of people whose entire worlds have been turned upside down. It's clear cancer care is at breaking point but this is a political choice and better is possible."

One Cancer Voice will today call for the next Government to put in place an immediate action plan to end the cancer catastrophe.

The figures, compiled and published by Macmillan today, paint the starkest yet picture of the plight facing those struck down with cancer and the postcode lottery for timely treatment.

Survival rates for prostate, bowel, breast and cervical cancer are only now reaching levels Nordic countries achieved in the early 2000s.

It comes as UK waiting times were among the worst in history last year.