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Cancer patients 18 times more likely to survive with early diagnosis

Simon Stevens said improving speed of cancer diagnosis is now the biggest challenge facing the NHS - PA
Simon Stevens said improving speed of cancer diagnosis is now the biggest challenge facing the NHS - PA

Early cancer diagnosis makes a "staggering" difference to survival rates, with patients 18 times more likely to live when the disease is caught sooner, the head of the NHS has sad. 

Simon Stevens said improving speed of cancer diagnosis is now the biggest challenge facing the service, as he outlined plans to boost survival rates.

Mr Stevens said earlier diagnosis would save money as well as lives, reducing reliance on the most expensive treatments. Speaking at the War on Cancer conference in London, Mr Stevens said some of the differences in survival depending on stage of diagnosis were “remarkable”.

“The biggest thing the health service has got to do is get early diagnosis right,” he said.

Mr Stevens highlighted “staggering” differences in survival in bowel cancer, depending on how early it was spotted.

Nine in ten of those diagnosed at stage one or two of the disease would still be alive five years later, official figures show. But 19 in 20 of cases identified at a later stage would not survive, he warned.

And Mr Stevens said the NHS would test schemes which allow GPs to refer patients for immediate scans for other types of suspected cancer instead of insisting they see a consultant.

He also detailed plans for a wider expansion of mobile testing schemes, including CT scanners in car parks to detect lung cancer and improved home testing kits for bowel disease.

A pilot scheme in Manchester which placed mobile CT scanners in shopping centre car parks settings quadrupled the number of cases of lung cancer detected at stage one or two, when it is more likely to be curable.

In total, 80 per cent of cases were found at these stages. The NHS normally detects just 20 per cent of cases this early.