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Government committee calls for better cancer services in England
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     England's survival rates from cancer are still well below the best in the world because patients are generally being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease and recommended treatments are not being used promptly, a government report warned this week.

    The report, Tackling Cancer in England: Saving More Lives, compiled by the Committee of Public Accounts, found that survival rates from cancer in England remained substantially below the best in Europe, especially for people living in deprived areas of the country.

    The committee, a group appointed by the House of Commons to assess use of public funds, noted that survival rates for men and women with cancer were improving but lagged behind the countries in the rest of western Europe with broadly similar population structures, healthcare systems, and per capita wealth.

    "If England's survival rates were comparable with the best in Europe, thousands more people, particularly those from deprived backgrounds, would survive for appreciable amounts of time after diagnosis," the report suggested.

    Figures showed that people in England were almost twice as likely to die of cancer if they lived in the north rather than in the south of the country. The report recommended that cancer networks should identify areas where cancer is not diagnosed until a more advanced stage, and take into account measures of deprivation. The Department of Health should also develop simple guidelines to help members of the public recognise and act on appropriate symptoms for major cancers. In addition, the committee recommended measures to improve the ability of GPs to identify patients who might have cancer, including closer monitoring of GP referrals and the development of GPs specialising in cancer.

    The report considered that the NHS had done much over the past few years to improve the quality of cancer treatment through multidisciplinary team working. However, it found that a substantial number of patients referred non-urgently and who were eventually diagnosed with cancer waited much longer than they should have done to be treated.

    The committee warned that there was still a "postcode lottery" for chemotherapy treatment. It recommended that a deadline should be set for ending the current wide variations in prescribing of cancer drugs. It suggested that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance should be implemented speedily.(Susan Mayor)