World Cancer Day: government must act quicker to catch cases

Ahead of World Cancer Day 2023, the worlds largest independent cancer research organisation has highlighted the need for governments across the UK to do more to treat and alert people of cancer risks.

Charity Cancer Research UK (CRU), the world’s largest independent cancer research organisation, published a new report yesterday, which outlines if current trends continue, cancer cases will climb from 348,000, who are diagnosed annually, to a heart-breaking over half a million by 2040.

With health services barely treading water now, governments across the UK have been urged to act swiftly to effectively meet the increase in demand of cancer patients. Almost a year after it was first announced, the government has reneged on its promise to publish a long-term cancer plan.

Against this backdrop, the Scottish government is expected to publish its cancer strategy this spring. But in Northern Ireland, despite publishing their strategy last year, the political instability there has meat implementing it has been impossible. And the new Cancer Improvement Plan for Wales shows its promise in addressing urgent challenges, however, it is only a short-term, 3-year plan.

Causes for climbing cancer cases

Reasons behind cases potentially hitting half a million in 17 years time, is due to the growing ageing population. Currently, around five in 10 new cancer cases were in people aged 70 or over, but by 2040 this could be six in 10, according to research uncovered by CRU.

As more cancers are diagnosed in older people who may be living with long-term health conditions, a greater number of them will have more complex needs that must be met by the healthcare system.

According to research reported by Cancer.Net in 2022, adults over the age of 65 with cancer have a stronger reaction to chemotherapy treatments, meaning they could experience worse side effects. Experts claim older people are more likely to suffer with coexisting conditions such as heart and lung problems, diabetes and arthritis, which negatively impacts chemotherapy.

Swapping sweets for celery sticks

Alarmingly, the analysis presented in the report by Cancer Research UK didn’t just display that the number of cancer cases will creep up, it also unveiled the overall cancer incidence rate is projected to increase to around 3% by 2040. This means more people will be more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than they are now.

According to research, around four in 10 cancer cases are caused by preventable risk factors such as smoking and obesity. To combat this and bring numbers down, the Smokefree UK Campaign – part of Cancer Research – is helping to reduce the number of people starting smoking and increase investment for the services and measures needed to help people quit.

The smoking campaign has outlined that smoking alone is the biggest cause of cancer in the UK and costs the economy £17bn a year of which £2.4bn falls to the NHS. 

Additionally, new research from Imperial College London (ICL) has displayed the consumption of eating ultra-processed foods such as, hotdogs, freezer foods or fizzy drinks, can lead to an increased risk of develop and/or dying from cancer.

The first UK study of its kind, researchers from ICL assessed the diets of people aged between 40 and 69 and found people who increase the amount of processed food have a 2% increased risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 6% increase in dying from it.

To help tackle this issue, CRU are calling on the government to promote better healthy eating plans so stop people from eating so much junk.

Cancer services crumbling under pressure

Health services are already under pressure with the backlog of hospital beds, record breaking ambulance and A&E wait times and serious staff shortages. As a result of this, little hope has been cast that cancer patients will be seen as a priority. Many people are already facing long waits for tests as diagnostic services struggle to keep up with demand, whilst waiting times have hit the worst on record.

According to NHS England figures, 12,000 cancer patients were left waiting longer than three months for treatment and more than 4% of the 287,000 people on cancer waiting lists had waited more than 104 days to receive treatment after diagnosis, despite 2,000 of those being classed as ‘urgent patients’.

However, targets across the UK have been repeatedly missed for a number of years. The pandemic worsened performance but waiting time have been poor since before COVID-19 hit.

In a bid to raise awareness and urge the government to do something about this, CRU have outlined that increasing the number of cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage, enhances the patients risk of being able to beat the disease. The charity uses the example of bowel cancer, which is caught only has a survival rate of nine in 10 people, but if left to progress to a later stage, this dramatically drops to one in 10.

Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research, said CRU’s ‘analysis provides a stark reminder of the challenges the NHS is set to face in years to come.

‘Cancer patients are already facing unacceptably long waits for diagnosis and treatment, and staff in cancer services have never worked harder.

‘The government needs to provide long-term, lasting solutions to the crisis. This World Cancer Day, we are asking Rishi Sunak to commit to the ambitious, focused and fully costed 10-year plan that will prepare cancer services for the future and give people affected by the cancer the care they deserve.’

Photo by Susan G. Komen 3-Day and Andres Siimon