Survival rates for cancer are improving

Feb 27 2009 The Journal

CANCER survival rates in the North East are improving, new figures have suggested.

Research looked into Primary Care Trusts with the most health-deprived populations in the country.

And so-called specialist “spearhead” PCTS, which include all the region’s trusts, are narrowing the gap.

Improvements in survival between 1998 and 2004 have been slightly greater for patients being treated by spearhead groups than for those in the rest of the country.

Although there has been an improvement in cancer survival, it remains lower than in the rest of England for 10 common cancers at one year after diagnosis.

The largest improvement was prostate cancer which is now essentially the same as in the rest of England.

One-year survival for breast cancer rose also increased, as did lung cancer and cancer of the oesophagus.

Spearhead PCTS were formed by the Government to tackled the most health-deprived parts of the country.

They include NHS North of Tyne, NHS South of Tyne and Wear and County Durham PCT.

Research was released by the Office for National Statistics as a major study from the World Cancer Research Fund estimated that 39% of 12 major cancers could be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle.

The Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention report said that increasing the amount of fresh fruit and veg in the diet and cutting down on alcohol could prevent 67% of cases of mouth, pharynx and larynx cancer each year.

This is equivalent to more than 3,300 cases each year in the UK.

Nonnie Crawford, director of public health for Sunderland Teaching PCT, said “There has been substantial investment in services. Now there are a lot more specialists with developed teams.

“We have a population growing older more and more that we had in the past. One thing that we will have will be more cancer diagnosis because people live longer.”

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