Dr Neil Hudson MP is supporting the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce’s (LSCT) Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day 2024 to improve the poor survival chances of people diagnosed with cancers of the lung, liver, brain, oesophagus, pancreas or stomach (the Less Survivable Cancers).
The LSCT has released figures today, based on a new analysis of existing data and the world survival rankings of lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach cancers, which show that the UK lags woefully behind other countries when it comes to patient survival.[1]
The data shows that out of 33 countries of comparable wealth and income levels, the UK ranks as low as 28th for five year survival for both stomach and lung cancer. This rises slightly to 26th for pancreatic cancer, 25th for brain cancer and 21st and 16th for liver and oesophageal cancers respectively.[2][3]
The countries with the highest five year survival rates for less survivable cancers were Korea, Belgium, USA, Australia and China and the new analysis found that, if people in the UK survived at the same rate as those in these countries, then over 8,000 lives could be saved annually.[4][5] Currently, in the UK around 15,400 people will survive for five years following a diagnosis of a less survivable cancer - if the UK had survival rates comparable to the top five performing countries, this number could be close to 24,000.[6]
The LSCT is calling for all UK governments to commit to increasing survival rates for less survivable cancers by eliminating avoidable delays in diagnosis and proactively investing in research and treatment options.
Dr Neil Hudson MP said:
“It was humbling to meet with the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce team and I fully support all the work they do and the calls on Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day to improve the currently poor prognosis for people diagnosed with these cancers. The key to improving prospects for people with cancer is early diagnosis and treatment. I pay tribute to the folk I met with who are channelling their own personal losses into helping other people.”
Anna Jewell, Chair of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, said:
“People diagnosed with a less survivable cancer are already fighting against the odds for survival. The figures we’re sharing today show that people living in the UK have even worse prospects than those living in comparable countries.
“We can see from these statistics that if we could bring the survivability of these cancers on level with the best-performing countries in the world then we could give valuable years to thousands of patients.
“If we’re going to see positive and meaningful change then all of the UK governments must commit to proactively investing in research and putting processes in place so we can speed up diagnosis and improve treatment options.
“It’s a really positive step to see so many MPs including Dr Neil Hudson supporting our Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day.”
NOTES
[1] 2010-2014 diagnosis period, data from CONCORD-3. Only countries with age-standardised, reliable data for each LSC considered.
[2] The data is based on research, originally published by the CONCORD programme for the world-wide surveillance of cancer survival, based in the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, during the period 2010 to 2014.
[3] See the full list of countries here
[4] The five best performing countries were found by calculating the rank of each country within each cancer and then the mean rank for each country across all cancers. Researchers then took the countries with the 5 best (i.e. lowest) mean ranks – to find the countries that, on average, perform the best across all six less survivable cancers. See the full list of countries here.
[5] Estimated by comparing the CRUK incidence projections to get the number of less survivable cancer annual cases in the 2023-2025 period. Researchers then calculated a mean average of the number of five year survivors based in each of the top five country’s survival rates and the UK incidence rates. This was then repeated using the UK survival rates. All survival rates are taken from CONCORD-3 data.
[6] Currently, in the UK 15,427 people will survive for five years following a diagnosis of a less survivable cancer - if the UK had survival rates comparable to the top five performing countries this number could be 23,775. This is a difference of 8,348 lives.
