UK In Cancer Survival Crisis

Charity blast over 25-year lag behind EU countries

- MARTIN BAGOT

SURVIVAL rates in Britain lag 25 years behind some European countries for common cancers.

Survival rates for prostate, cervix and colon cancers are only reaching levels Denmark and Sweden achieved around the turn of the century.

Five-year survival rates for women with cervical cancer in England is 61.4%, 25 years behind Norway.

Five-year survival rates for men with bowel cancer in England and women with colon cancer in Wales are below Sweden in the early 2000s.

There is a similar picture for prostate cancer in Scotland as well as one-year survival for male colon cancer in Northern Ireland.