Nearly half of cancers are diagnosed after they are likely to have spread, according to a new report.
The number of people diagnosed as early as stage one or stage two will fall to 52 per cent by 2020, figures from NHS Digital show.
The decline will lead to thousands of patients dying from the disease in the coming years, one of the UK’s leading cancer doctors has warned.
According to official figures, only 19 percent of some cancers, such as esophageal cancer, were diagnosed at an early stage, compared with 91 percent for testicular cancer.
The number of people diagnosed as early as stage one or stage two will fall to 52 per cent by 2020, figures from NHS Digital show. The decline will lead to thousands of patients dying from the disease in the coming years, one of the UK’s leading cancer doctors has warned. According to official figures, only 19 percent of some cancers, such as esophageal cancer, were diagnosed at an early stage, compared with 91 percent for testicular cancer.
It comes after it was revealed that the number of cancer patients being treated within two months of an urgent general referral has fallen sharply.
Professor Karol Sikora (pictured), an oncology consultant, said the health service was seeing patients with later stage cancer but there would be a natural lag before death rates reflected this
Those living in the most deprived areas were also more likely to be diagnosed later.
Experts say the UK is in the middle of a cancer crisis due to existing capacity issues, exacerbated by the pandemic advice to ‘stay at home’.
Professor Karol Sikora, an oncology consultant, said the health service was seeing patients with later-stage cancer, but there would be a natural lag before death rates reflected this.
He said: “We are still missing patients from 2020 and 2021 and now they are coming in but the capacity is not there to see them.
“What we don’t know – and for which we have to wait three or four years – is that the death rate will rise because cancer takes longer to see the dead.
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“I think in 2023 and 2024 it will go up to cancer.
“We know that people have stage 3 and 4 cancer, and we know that if it occurs later, survival rates will be worse.”
Bottlenecks in critical departments such as radiology and endoscopy mean overburdened hospitals struggle to provide essential services for early detection of cancer, leading to delays in diagnosis.
Cancer Performance data shows that just six in 10 cancer patients started treatment within two months of an urgent referral from their GP in October, the second lowest number since enrollment began in 2009.
Yesterday’s report showed that patients awaiting diagnosis are playing the lottery, with 83 per cent of breast cancer patients being diagnosed before the cancer has progressed, compared to just a quarter of pancreatic cancer patients.
Prostate cancer, which the Daily Mail has been campaigning for for 20 years, is found early in only half of patients, according to the figures.
Earlier this week, leading cancer specialists warned that these delays in diagnosis and treatment had already led to a 17 per cent rise in UK cancer deaths.
Further statistics show that the number of cancer deaths since March 2020 has already reached 8,815, including 3,327 in the last six months, and this trend “is likely to continue”.
In the Lancet Oncology journal, they described it as a “watershed moment”, adding that officials must recognize the true scale of the problem and treat it with the same urgency as Covid.
NHS data from November showed that 69,000 patients in the UK waited longer than the recommended 62 days from referral for suspected cancer to starting treatment in the past 12 months – double the number in 2017-18.
Meanwhile, 13 per cent of cancer patients in England waited more than 104 days to start treatment in September – double the maximum recommended waiting time.
An NHS spokesman said: “These figures provide further evidence of the immediate impact of Covid-19 in 2020, when we saw a fall in the number of people presenting for cancer screening, but the number of early diagnoses was on its highest recovery in July, pre-pandemic status In 2021, and thanks to NHS campaigns to encourage people to get in touch, the NHS is diagnosing more early-stage cancers than at any time before the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We know fewer people with possible symptoms of cancer have reported to their GP during the pandemic, but the NHS has continued to prioritize cancer treatment and we are working at high speed to to improve outcomes for people with the disease.
“The latest figures show the NHS is diagnosing more and more patients faster, with more than 100,000 patients diagnosed with stage one or two cancer last year.
“In October, 92% of people started treatment within a month of referral and we continue to do everything we can to fight cancer and speed up diagnosis, including offering millions of additional scans at our community diagnostic centres, the targeted program for Monitoring lung health and improving access to general practitioners.”
In other related news…
- Cancer crisis reaches ‘tipping point’ as experts warn upward trend in deaths ‘likely to continue’
- America’s leading cancer doctor announces that she has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and must undergo surgery
- A common chemotherapy drug may INCREASE cancer risk in children and grandchildren of survivors, study suggests
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
