Cases of these 4 cancers will hit record highs in 2025, says report
The number of Brits living with cancer is predicted to hit a new high of 3.4 million people this year.
Research from cancer support charity Macmillan has found that half a million more people will be living with cancer in 2025 than in 2020, due to an ageing and growing population (the 2021 Census found the number of people aged 65 years and over increased from 9.2 million in 2011 to over 11 million in 2021), improved survival rates and a rise in people with melanoma, thyroid and liver cancer.
The increase will include:
890,000 women with breast cancer
610,000 men with prostate cancer
390,000 people with bowel cancer
120,000 with lung cancer
Macmillan forecasts that by 2030, there will be 4 million living with cancer and 5.3 million by 2040.
It may also be especially difficult to live with cancer once diagnosed. A YouGov survey of more than 2,000 last year found a third felt it was more difficult to live with cancer now than at any other time, and 48% for those who also had a severe disability. NHS data also suggested that those from ethnic minority backgrounds and the LGBTQ+ community were receiving poorer care.
'The number of people living with cancer in the UK is rising, and for many, things are getting worse,' said the charity's chief executive Gemma Peters.
'There are unacceptable gaps between the best and worst experiences, and people are being left behind.'
What is being done about cancer care?
Macmillan reports that around 167,000 people die from cancer annually, or 460 every day. However, the number of deaths has grown much slower than the number of cases, with deaths increasing by 7% from 2009-2019.
Cancer survival is also improving and has doubled in the last 50 years in the UK. Macmillan estimates that average survival is now estimated to be over 10 years from diagnosis, up from the median time of one year in the 1970s and six years in 2007.
The NHS Long Term 10-Year Cancer Plan, published in 2019, has the priority target of improving cancer survival and diagnosing cancer earlier. By 2028, it hopes that the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 will rise from around half to 75% of cancer patients.
Its commitments include:
building on work to raise greater awareness of cancer symptoms
lowering the referral by GP threshold
accelerating access to diagnosis and treatment
maximising the number of cancers identified through screening
GPs in England also made 259,563 urgent cancer referrals in November, which was a decrease from 279,063 in October and a year-on-year improvement from 270,549 in November 2023.
Waiting times, however, still pose a worrying concern. While NHS data for England showed the percentage of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in November for their first official cancer treatment through referral or upgrade was 69.4% in November, up from 68.2% in October. However, the target is 85%.
An NHS spokesperson said to Chronicle Live: 'More people than ever are being diagnosed with cancer at an earlier stage – where treatment is more likely to be successful – and record numbers of people are being referred for checks, while waiting times are improving and patients on average rate their overall experience of care highly.'
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson previously said: 'When it comes to fighting cancer, every second counts. This government will get the NHS catching cancers earlier through early diagnosis and screening programmes, so that it can be treated faster and so more lives can be saved.
'As we deliver our Plan for Change, we will make the NHS fit for the future and fight cancer on all fronts – through prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research.'
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