New analysis from Cancer Research UK, revealing a 29% drop in the rate of people dying from cancer compared with 40 years ago, is a vital counterpoint to grim health headlines about the UK’s outcomes falling behind those of other countries, and the NHS missing its own cancer targets. Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, made a related point in a recent lecture. Stand back from the day to day, he said, and the extraordinary leaps forward enabled by vaccinations and other advances in treatment and public health come into focus.
This longer view is not a cause for complacency or inaction. England’s latest cancer plan, launched last month, highlighted shocking lapses including lengthy waits for treatment and a failure to tackle inequalities in cancer mortality dating back 15 years. Last year, analysis by the Guardian found that about three-quarters of NHS trusts were failing to reach standards relating to diagnosis and treatment.
Over the past decade, deaths from kidney, liver and some other cancers have risen. And Brexit has had an adverse impact on the development of new treatments, with researchers facing a trickier environment for clinical trials. One report last year pointed to the increased difficulty of international collaboration, reduced access to grant funding and border controls hindering the ability of experts to move around.
One in two people in the UK will get a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lives and cancer care is a high priority for voters. The overall number of people dying from the disease continues to rise as the population ages. Introducing the government’s new policy, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Ashley Dalton, the heath minister, both referred to their own experiences of treatment. Last week, Ms Dalton, who has advanced breast cancer, resigned from her ministerial post citing the effects of chemotherapy.
But the 11% fall in the overall cancer death rate over the past decade should be recognised and celebrated. About a quarter of the 600,000 or so deaths in the UK each year are from cancer. Over time, improved survival rates add up to more years of life for millions of people. In the context of concerns around adult social care, increased longevity can sometimes be made to sound as if it is a problem. But while an ageing population does present challenges for policymakers, and relatives of older people who need care, it should never be forgotten that it is a direct consequence of more of us surviving illnesses and fewer of us dying when we are younger.
Some of the biggest recent improvements have been in outcomes from cancers of the ovaries, stomach and lungs. In their cancer plan, ministers have committed to dramatic further advances, including genomic tests for every patient who could benefit. How to deliver such innovations in a way that narrows rather than widens the gap between the wealthiest and poorest people is the task now facing them.
As Prof Whitty stressed in his talk last week, medical expertise is concentrated in richer, healthier areas while obesity – which is linked to multiple cancers and other diseases – is more prevalent in deprived communities. Stronger action on prevention and public health, including tighter regulation of junk food, will be needed as well as scientific advances if the more positive trends of recent decades are to continue.
