Improving Cancer Outcomes — House of Commons, 2015-02-05
Topic: Health
John Charles Baron (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That this House has considered improving cancer outcomes Recent analysis from Macmillan Cancer Support shows that there are now an estimated 2.5 million people living with cancer in this country—an increase of almost half a million over the past five years. May I therefore begin by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for granting this timely debate on an issue that is becoming ever more urgent: improving cancer outcomes I would also like to thank my fellow officers of the all-party group on cancer for all their hard work, and the officers of the other cancer-specific all-party groups. It speaks volumes about the importance of the issue that we have come together to secure this timely and important debate. I would like to give the all-party group on cancer a plug. The group is recognised as the wider cancer community’s voice in Parliament. It has a proud campaigning track record. It runs what is now the largest one-day conference on cancer in the UK—Britain against cancer—each December. In the Minister’s own words, it rightly holds the Government’s feet to the flames The timing of this debate is crucial. With only a matter of weeks of parliamentary time before the general election, and at a time when NHS England is embarking on a new cancer strategy, this is likely to be the last opportunity for this Parliament to speak up on behalf of the cancer community and feed into that strategy The challenge has never been greater. Macmillan Cancer Support estimates that 3 million people will be living with cancer in this country by the end of the next Parliament. By the end of next year, 1,000 people a day are expected to be diagnosed with cancer. Hospital admissions for cancer in England have increased by around 100,000 a year, compared with five years ago. The NHS has missed the target of cancer patients receiving their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral for three quarters There is also good news, though, in that we have certainly made improvements in cancer outcomes over the past few decades. The latest figures published in December show that the one-year cancer survival rates in the UK now average 68.5% to 69%—up by a full 10 percentage points since 1997. These are figures on a page, but we are talking about thousands of lives saved every single year because we are driving up cancer survival rates, particularly in the one-year figures However, those improvements have been gradual and incremental, and they have not been enough to catch up with our European counterparts. Research has shown that our one-year survival rates still significantly lag behind European averages. Whereas we have 68.5% to 69% in this country, the best in Europe is 81% to 82% in Sweden. That is a significant difference that accounts, very roughly, for some 10,000 lives a year. There is always a danger in making comparisons. For example, if we look at the French figures, we are making comparisons with France’s centres of excellence. None the less, the established evidence suggests that we are down by some 5,000 lives a year on European averages, and perhaps by as many as 10,000 when compared with the best in Europe.