Macmillan responds to Darzi investigation

“The Darzi investigation confirms what we have been sounding the alarm on for years: cancer care is broken. Far too many people are facing terrifying delays to treatment and huge gaps in care, and every day we hear about the devastating impact this is having on people’s lives. But we also know that better is possible and the UK government must now use this stark diagnosis to kickstart a revolution in cancer care.

“The 10-Year Health Plan is a critical moment to set out radical change. We need to see all parts of government working together and ensure the NHS and cancer care are not only repaired but are revolutionised, so that everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, consistently gets world-leading care.”

• International comparison: Recent analysis from Macmillan Cancer Support found that cancer survival rates in the UK are as much as 25 years behind other European countries[1]. The analysis suggested that if the UK’s survival rates matched the best in Europe, thousands more people who are diagnosed each year in the UK would survive their cancer for at least five years[2].
• Cancer waiting times: In 2023, almost 90,000 people with cancer across the UK waited more than two months to start treatment from the point of either urgent referral or first suspicion of cancer[3].
• Inequity in cancer care: There are huge differences in people’s cancer experiences — often made worse because of who they are or where they live. For example, research has shown people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in the UK wait longer to be diagnosed for several types of cancer[4].
• Cancer in the UK: Cancer is the UK’s biggest killer[5] and the disease people are most fearful about[6]. Every 90 seconds, someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer[7]. Today, more than 3 million people are already living with the disease[8], and that number is on the rise.
• Demand on support services: With an ageing population with more complex needs, demands on cancer services will continue to rise. In 2023, over 100,000 people affected by cancer turned to Macmillan’s free Support Line for urgent one-to-one emotional, financial, and practical support from the Support Line’s experts[9].
• Cancer & long-term health conditions: Macmillan analysis shows that if you have another long-term health condition alongside cancer, you’re more likely to have an even harder time with cancer care and treatment.

• NHS England. Cancer Survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2016 to 2020, followed up to 2021. February 2023 (accessed May 2024)
• Public Health Scotland. Cancer survival statistics — People diagnosed with cancer during 2015 to 2019. July 2022 (accessed May 2024)
• Public Health Wales. Cancer survival in Wales, 2002–2020. November 2023 (accessed May 2024). Latest five-year time period for which net survival rates are available is for people diagnosed between 2016 and 2020
• Northern Ireland Cancer Registry. Official statistics. Accessed May 2024 (please note: at time of publication, comparable five-year survival rates were not publicly available; the latest time period for which one-year net survival rates are available is for people diagnosed between 2017 and 2021)
• Association of the Nordic Cancer Registries (NORDCAN). Survival — trends. Accessed June 2024. Latest time period for which five-year relative survival rates are available is for people diagnosed between 2017 and 2021

[2] Taking the figures and sources given in reference 1 as an example: The data for colon cancer for women in England is based on 55,429 women diagnosed between 2016 and 2020. With a net/relative 5-year survival rate of 57.6% we would expect around 23,500 of these women to have died from cancer within 5 years of diagnosis. If the 5-year survival rate was the same as Sweden’s during this time, at 70.6%, we would expect the number to have died from cancer to be around 16,300, suggesting around 8,000 fewer women would have died from colon cancer during this 5-year period — around 1,600 per year. This suggests that if survival rates for all cancer types in the UK matched the best in Europe, thousands more people diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK would survive at least five years from diagnosis

[3] Based on a combination of analysis from the following sources: 1) NHS England https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/ and https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/#cwt-statistics-up-to-september-2023 2) Public Health Scotland. Cancer waiting times — 1 October to 31 December 2023 3) Suspected Cancer Pathways data from StatsWales 4) Northern Ireland Department of Health. Cancer waiting times

[4] One study of seven types of cancer shows on average Asian people with cancer in the UK wait 16% longer to be diagnosed than white people, while Black people wait 10% longer. Source: Martins T, Abel G, Ukoumunne OC et al. Assessing ethnic inequalities in diagnostic interval of common cancers: A population-based UK cohort study. Cancers 2022; 14: 3085. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14133085

[5] Refers to cause of death from overall disease group, i.e. all types of cancer combined compared with e.g. all types of dementia combined, and all types of heart disease and stroke combined. Based on a combination of analysis from the following sources: 1) Office for National Statistics. Deaths registered in England and Wales, 2022. Relevant figures shown in table 13 of the 2022 dataset 2) National Records of Scotland. Vital reference events table 2022; Section 6: Deaths — Causes 3) Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Registrar General Annual Report 2022 Cause of Death

[6] NHS England. NHS chief launches new campaign to combat the fear of cancer. March 2022. The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2,000 UK adults aged 16+, nationally representative on age, gender and region. The data was collected between 18.02.2022–21.02.2022.

[7] Based on aggregated UK-wide figures for 2020, the latest year for which cancer incidence data is available for all countries in the UK. Figures include all malignant neoplasms excluding non- melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) (ICD-10 codes C00–97 excl. C44. Scotland does not use C97):

• NHS England — National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service
• Public Health Scotland
• Cancer Reporting Tool — Official Statistics — Public Health Wales
• Northern Ireland Cancer Registry Queen’s University Belfast
  

[8] Macmillan Cancer Support. Cancer prevalence. Accessed May 2024

[9] Macmillan Cancer Support internal data