Cancer Research has claimed that the next UK government could prevent upwards of 20,000 cancer deaths each year. The charity has issued a manifesto calling for urgent research and diagnosis, with a focus on lung and bowel cancer. Chief executive of Cancer Research UK, Michelle Mitchell said, ‘The impact of cancer is immense. We estimate that half a million people – friends, colleagues and loved ones – will be diagnosed with the disease every year by 2040. Their lives are at stake if we don’t act now’.
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Around 400,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year. With an ageing population, it is predicted this will increase to half a million a year unless there are major improvements to investment in research and earlier diagnosis. The charity claims that if their plans were adopted, the UK would be among the world’s pioneering countries for cancer survival by 2035.
The Longer Better Lives: A Manifesto for Cancer Research and Care manifesto sets out policy to improve cancer outcomes, including bans on smoking and addressing the £1 billion funding gap for research and setting out a 10-year cancer specific workforce plan. The manifesto also stresses the importance of early diagnosis, particularly of the two biggest killers, lung and bowel cancer.
Bowel cancer is the UK’s second most common form of cancer and currently has a survival rate of 53%. Cancer Research’s manifesto wants to see a lowered threshold in who can be screened for bowel cancer through the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT). Lowering the threshold of FITs would mean the cancer could be diagnosed and therefore treated quicker.
Lynn Dunne, CEO of Bowel Research UK noted how important early diagnosis is of bowel cancer is for patients. She said: ‘Early diagnosis is particularly beneficial for bowel cancer, because if detected early, the disease can often be cured by surgery alone without the need for other treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.’
Huge advancements in research have saved thousands of people from dying of cancer, with the survival rate doubling over the last 50 years. However, Cancer Research believes more could be avoided with investment in research and the NHS. ‘Cancer is the defining health issue of our time,’ said Mr Mitchell. ‘Avoiding thousands of cancer deaths is possible, but it will take leadership, political will, investment and reform.’