Revealed: Interactive map shows the areas of England where cancer patients are most likely to die within a year of being diagnosed
- Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed people in Leicester are least likely to live 12 months
- Meanwhile, those living in Richmond upon Thames have the highest one-year survival rate in England
- The average one-year survival for England as a whole rose from 62 per cent in 2001 to 72.8 per cent in 2016
- But Cancer Research UK warns shortages of NHS staff and funding are holding back progress
Advertisement
Figures have revealed the areas of England where people are least likely to survive for a year after being diagnosed with cancer.
Nearly a third of cancer patients diagnosed in Leicester city centre will die within a year, making it the worst performing NHS group in the country by this measure – its 12-month survival rate is 67.7 per cent.
Only 20 areas in England manage to keep three quarters of their patients alive for a year after being diagnosed, the majority of them in or around London.
Whereas the worst performing areas are mainly in the Midlands and Kent, leaving people facing a postcode lottery if they are diagnosed.
But the gap between the best and worst performing areas has shrunk by 6.3 per cent in the past 15 years, meaning people around the country are faced with more equal survival odds when they get cancer.
And the one-year survival rate of England as a whole has jumped by more than 10 per cent since 2001.
The areas with the fewest patients surviving for a year or more after a cancer diagnosis are mostly in the Midlands, Kent and more deprived areas of London. The North of England, which has historically fared worse, has improved and has no areas in the bottom 10
The statistics, released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), brought good news, too, however.
They show the gap between the areas with the best survival rates – headed up by Richmond in London, where 77.4 per cent of people survive a year or more – is shrinking.
While the difference between the highest and lowest survival rates was 16 per cent in 2001, it has fallen to 9.7 per cent, according to today’s numbers for 2016.
This means there is now greater equality across the country in cancer diagnoses and treatments.
And the North of England, which often comes up short in health statistics, has been overtaken by the Midlands as the region with the most areas with survival rates significantly lower than the national average.
Some 40 per cent of the 40 Clinical Commissioning Groups – local NHS bodies known as CCGs – in the Midlands fare worse than England as a whole.
This figure is 39 per cent for the North, which has 61 CCGs, down from 57 per cent in 2001.
In the south only 20 per cent of CCGs have significantly worse survival than the English average.
The survival of people in England as a whole has improved in that time, from 62 per cent in 2001 to 72.8 per cent in 2016.
But experts warn staff and cash shortages in the NHS are holding the country back compared to its peers.
Matt Case, policy manager at Cancer Research UK said: ‘While it’s certainly good news that cancer survival has improved since 2001, we need to improve survival for many cancers at a faster rate if we’re going to catch up with other countries.
‘Diagnosing cancer early is key to improving survival but the NHS is currently struggling because of persistent staff shortages.
‘The Government must provide investment for more staff to diagnose and treat cancer, or the ambition to diagnose 75 per cent of cancers at an early stage by 2028 won’t be met.’
Other CCGs in the 10 with the lowest survival rates are Medway, Swale and Thanet in Kent; Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets and Newham in London; and Sandwell and West Birmingham, Stoke on Trent and Luton.
Those behind Richmond in the 10 with the best survival rates are Westminster, Barnet, West London, Kingston and Hounslow in London; Surrey Heath and Surrey Downs; Southport and Formby in Merseyside, and North East Hampshire and Farnham.
Local NHS group | 1-year survival rate (%) |
Local NHS group | 1-year survival rate (%) |
---|---|---|---|
NHS Richmond CCG | 77.4 | NHS Milton Keynes CCG | 72.4 |
NHS Surrey Heath CCG | 77.1 | NHS North Norfolk CCG | 72.4 |
NHS Central London (Westminster) CCG | 77.1 | Suffolk and North East Essex | 72.4 |
NHS Barnet CCG | 77 | NHS Bedfordshire CCG | 72.3 |
NHS Kingston CCG | 76.4 | NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG | 72.3 |
NHS West London CCG | 76.4 | NHS Southampton CCG | 72.3 |
NHS Southport and Formby CCG | 76.2 | NHS Northumberland CCG | 72.3 |
NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG | 76.2 | NHS Fylde and Wyre CCG | 72.3 |
NHS Hounslow CCG | 76.1 | NHS North Derbyshire CCG | 72.2 |
NHS Surrey Downs CCG | 76 | NHS Shropshire CCG | 72.2 |
NHS Guildford and Waverley CCG | 75.9 | NHS North East Essex CCG | 72.2 |
NHS Merton CCG | 75.8 | NHS Wigan Borough CCG | 72.2 |
NHS West Hampshire CCG | 75.6 | NHS Nene CCG | 72.1 |
NHS Wandsworth CCG | 75.6 | NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG | 72.1 |
Surrey Heartlands | 75.6 | NHS Crawley CCG | 72.1 |
NHS Harrow CCG | 75.4 | Greater Manchester | 72.1 |
South West London | 75.2 | NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG | 72.1 |
NHS Hammersmith and Fulham CCG | 75.1 | Greater Manchester | 72.1 |
North West and South West London | 75 | Northamptonshire | 72.1 |
North Central London | 75 | NHS Bexley CCG | 72 |
NHS East Surrey CCG | 74.9 | NHS Bury CCG | 72 |
NHS Stockport CCG | 74.9 | NHS Havering CCG | 72 |
North West London | 74.9 | NHS Hillingdon CCG | 72 |
NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG | 74.8 | Mid and South Essex | 72 |
NHS South Devon and Torbay CCG | 74.8 | Humber, Coast and Vale | 71.9 |
NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG | 74.7 | NHS Bassetlaw CCG | 71.9 |
NHS West Cheshire CCG | 74.7 | NHS Warwickshire North CCG | 71.9 |
NHS Oxfordshire CCG | 74.7 | NHS West Leicestershire CCG | 71.9 |
NHS Trafford CCG | 74.7 | NHS Isle of Wight CCG | 71.9 |
NHS Camden CCG | 74.7 | NHS South Tyneside CCG | 71.9 |
Frimley Health | 74.7 | NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG | 71.9 |
NHS South Cheshire CCG | 74.6 | NHS Salford CCG | 71.9 |
NHS Bath and North East Somerset CCG | 74.6 | NHS City and Hackney CCG | 71.9 |
NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG | 74.5 | Humber, Coast and Vale | 71.9 |
NHS North West Surrey CCG | 74.5 | Nottinghamshire | 71.9 |
NHS Ealing CCG | 74.5 | NHS North Staffordshire CCG | 71.8 |
Devon | 74.4 | East Midlands | 71.8 |
NHS Vale Royal CCG | 74.3 | NHS Southern Derbyshire CCG | 71.8 |
NHS West Kent CCG | 74.3 | NHS Southend CCG | 71.8 |
NHS Morecambe Bay CCG | 74.3 | NHS Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford CCG | 71.8 |
NHS Enfield CCG | 74.3 | NHS Bolton CCG | 71.8 |
NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG | 74.2 | Coventry and Warwickshire | 71.8 |
NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG | 74.2 | South Yorkshire, Bassetlaw, North Derbyshire and Hardwick | 71.7 |
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | 74.2 | NHS Corby CCG | 71.7 |
NHS West Suffolk CCG | 74.1 | NHS Norwich CCG | 71.7 |
NHS South Eastern Hampshire CCG | 74.1 | Kent and Medway | 71.7 |
NHS Brent CCG | 74.1 | NHS Portsmouth CCG | 71.7 |
Peninsula | 74 | Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Luton | 71.7 |
NHS Warrington CCG | 73.9 | Kent and Medway | 71.7 |
NHS West Essex CCG | 73.9 | NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG | 71.6 |
NHS Bromley CCG | 73.9 | NHS Vale of York CCG | 71.6 |
NHS Buckinghamshire CCG | 73.9 | NHS East Staffordshire CCG | 71.6 |
NHS Wiltshire CCG | 73.9 | NHS Stafford and Surrounds CCG | 71.6 |
NHS East and North Hertfordshire CCG | 73.8 | NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG | 71.6 |
NHS South Norfolk CCG | 73.8 | NHS Berkshire West CCG | 71.6 |
NHS Lambeth CCG | 73.8 | South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw | 71.6 |
Surrey and Sussex | 73.8 | Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin | 71.6 |
NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG | 73.8 | Derbyshire | 71.6 |
NHS Dorset CCG | 73.8 | Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 71.6 |
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | 73.8 | NHS Barnsley CCG | 71.5 |
Dorset | 73.8 | NHS South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula CCG | 71.5 |
Wessex | 73.7 | NHS Wolverhampton CCG | 71.5 |
NHS Croydon CCG | 73.7 | NHS Lewisham CCG | 71.5 |
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight | 73.7 | NHS South Kent Coast CCG | 71.5 |
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | 73.7 | North East and Cumbria | 71.5 |
NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG | 73.6 | Cumbria and North East | 71.5 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 73.6 | NHS Bradford City CCG | 71.4 |
NHS North Hampshire CCG | 73.6 | NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG | 71.4 |
NHS Chorley and South Ribble CCG | 73.6 | West Midlands | 71.4 |
NHS West Lancashire CCG | 73.6 | NHS Cannock Chase CCG | 71.4 |
NHS Sutton CCG | 73.6 | NHS South West Lincolnshire CCG | 71.4 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 73.6 | NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG | 71.4 |
Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire | 73.5 | NHS Brighton and Hove CCG | 71.4 |
NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG | 73.5 | NHS Redbridge CCG | 71.4 |
NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG | 73.4 | NHS Rotherham CCG | 71.3 |
NHS Southwark CCG | 73.4 | NHS Birmingham and Solihull CCG | 71.3 |
Hertfordshire and West Essex | 73.4 | NHS Greenwich CCG | 71.3 |
Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire | 73.4 | NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees CCG | 71.3 |
NHS Leeds CCG | 73.3 | NHS Waltham Forest CCG | 71.3 |
NHS Mid Essex CCG | 73.3 | Lincolnshire | 71.3 |
Thames Valley | 73.3 | Birmingham and Solihull | 71.3 |
NHS Kernow CCG | 73.3 | NHS Wakefield CCG | 71.2 |
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | 73.3 | NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG | 71.2 |
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG | 73.2 | NHS South Tees CCG | 71.2 |
NHS South Warwickshire CCG | 73.2 | Staffordshire | 71.2 |
NHS Somerset CCG | 73.2 | NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCG | 71.1 |
NHS Islington CCG | 73.2 | NHS North Durham CCG | 71.1 |
Somerset | 73.2 | NHS North Kirklees CCG | 71 |
NHS Bradford Districts CCG | 73.1 | NHS Wyre Forest CCG | 71 |
NHS South Sefton CCG | 73.1 | NHS Swindon CCG | 71 |
NHS St Helens CCG | 73.1 | NHS Hastings and Rother CCG | 70.9 |
NHS Wirral CCG | 73.1 | NHS North Tyneside CCG | 70.9 |
NHS West Norfolk CCG | 73.1 | NHS Erewash CCG | 70.8 |
NHS High Weald Lewes Havens CCG | 73.1 | NHS East Lancashire CCG | 70.8 |
NHS Newark and Sherwood CCG | 73 | NHS Walsall CCG | 70.7 |
NHS Rushcliffe CCG | 73 | NHS Lincolnshire East CCG | 70.7 |
South East London | 73 | NHS North Cumbria CCG | 70.6 |
NHS Ashford CCG | 73 | North East London | 70.6 |
NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG | 73 | NHS Doncaster CCG | 70.5 |
NHS East Berkshire CCG | 73 | NHS Nottingham City CCG | 70.5 |
NHS Fareham and Gosport CCG | 73 | NHS Sunderland CCG | 70.5 |
South East London | 73 | NHS Hardwick CCG | 70.4 |
NHS Nottingham North and East CCG | 72.9 | NHS Lincolnshire West CCG | 70.4 |
England | 72.8 | NHS Blackpool CCG | 70.3 |
NHS Liverpool CCG | 72.8 | NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG | 70.3 |
NHS Canterbury and Coastal CCG | 72.8 | NHS Manchester CCG | 70.3 |
NHS Halton CCG | 72.7 | NHS Dudley CCG | 70.2 |
NHS South Worcestershire CCG | 72.7 | The Black Country | 70.2 |
NHS Greater Preston CCG | 72.7 | NHS Calderdale CCG | 70.1 |
West Yorkshire and Harrogate | 72.6 | NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG | 70.1 |
NHS Sheffield CCG | 72.6 | NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG | 70.1 |
NHS Nottingham West CCG | 72.6 | NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG | 70.1 |
East of England | 72.6 | NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG | 69.7 |
North Central and North East London | 72.6 | NHS Thurrock CCG | 69.5 |
West Yorkshire | 72.6 | NHS Hull CCG | 69.4 |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 72.6 | NHS Oldham CCG | 69.4 |
Norfolk and Waveney | 72.6 | NHS Darlington CCG | 69.2 |
Sussex and East Surrey | 72.6 | NHS Blackburn with Darwen CCG | 69.2 |
NHS North Lincolnshire CCG | 72.5 | NHS Newham CCG | 69.1 |
NHS Knowsley CCG | 72.5 | NHS Swale CCG | 68.9 |
NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG | 72.5 | NHS Thanet CCG | 68.9 |
NHS Gloucestershire CCG | 72.5 | NHS Luton CCG | 68.8 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 72.5 | NHS Tower Hamlets CCG | 68.8 |
NHS Haringey CCG | 72.5 | NHS Stoke on Trent CCG | 68.5 |
Gloucestershire | 72.5 | NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG | 68.1 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 72.5 | NHS Barking and Dagenham CCG | 68 |
NHS Herefordshire CCG | 72.4 | NHS Medway CCG | 67.9 |
NHS South Lincolnshire CCG | 72.4 | NHS Leicester City CCG | 67.7 |
NHS Herts Valleys CCG | 72.4 | Source: ONS |