Staff shortages affecting cancer diagnosis rates

Cancer Research UK has reported that approximately 115,000 cancer patients in England each year are diagnosed too late to give them the best chance of survival.

The figures mean that nearly half of all cancers diagnosed with a known stage in England are diagnosed at stage 3 or 4. And of these, around 67,000 people are diagnosed at stage 4 – the most advanced stage – leaving them with fewer treatment options and less chance of surviving their disease.

The charity is warning that a desperate shortage of NHS medical staff trained to carry out tests that diagnose cancer means that efforts by the health system to diagnose and treat cancer more swiftly are being thwarted.

The government pledged last year to improve the number of people diagnosed with early stage cancer – a jump from two in four diagnosed early to three in four by 2028 which could save thousands of lives. Cancer Research UK has calculated that to reach this target, an extra 100,000 patients must be diagnosed early each year by 2028. However, there are not enough of the right staff available on the ground now, and there are no plans to significantly increase the numbers needed to transform the health service.

Other factors highlighted as contributing to the current situation are symptoms being hard to spot, GPs having too little time to investigate people thoroughly, low uptake of screening programmes or the cancer being advanced when detected.

Emma Greenwood, Cancer Research UK’s director of policy, said: “It’s unacceptable that so many people are diagnosed late. Although survival has improved, it’s not happening fast enough. More referrals to hospital means we urgently need more staff. The government’s inaction on staff shortages is crippling the NHS, failing cancer patients and the doctors and nurses who are working tirelessly to diagnose and treat them.

“By 2035, one person every minute will be diagnosed with cancer but there’s no plan to increase the number of NHS staff to cope with demand now or the growing numbers in the future. Saving lives from cancer needs to be top of the agenda for the new government and it must commit to investing in vital NHS staff now to ensure no one dies from cancer unnecessarily.”

By 2035, more than 500,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer in the UK, compared with nearly 360,000 today.