The chances of surviving cancer for 10 years after diagnosis has increased by more than 24% in England and Wales over nearly five decades, but researchers say progress has slowed partly because of longer waiting times.
A study, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), suggests survival rates between the most and least deadly types of the disease are wider than ever before.
Researchers examined long-term cancer trends for adults across England and Wales over 48 years, from 1971 to 2018.
They found the cancer survival index (CSI) – the percentage surviving 10 years after diagnosis – was 49.8% for all cancers in 2018. That compares with just 23.7% in 1971.
But experts say the speed of improvement has slowed down and “is likely to be at least partly explained by longer waits for diagnosis and treatment,” according to the report authors.
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The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the Lancet, shows the 10-year CSI between 2000/01 to 2005/06 rose by 4%. But examining a more recent period, between 2010/11 and 2015/16, the increase was just 1.4%.
There were also major gaps in survival when it came to different cancer types.
The 10-year survival for testicular cancer was 97%, compared with 4.3% for pancreatic cancer.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Thanks to research, most patients today are far more likely to survive their cancer than at any point in the past.
“But the reality is that this progress is slowing – and for some cancers, it never got going in the first place.”
Screening programmes have significantly increased survival rates, including for breast cancer, where 76.6% now survive 10 years or more, along with bowel (53.9%) and cervix (63.5%), according to the most recent figures from Cancer Research UK.
But survival rates for other types, like stomach cancer (16.1%), lung (10%) and brain (19.2%), have increased by only a small amount in the past few decades.
Michel Coleman, professor of epidemiology and statistics at LSHTM, said he had seen “substantial increases” in survival rates for most types of cancer, but “allowing this trend to stall will have devastating consequences”.
“It’s vital that the government provides the political and financial support to ensure we maintain this crucial data. Without these, the government will be flying blind on cancer control.
“The National Cancer Plan is a chance to improve NHS cancer pathways and reap the benefits of new research – the Government must take it,” Prof Coleman said.
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Cancer Research UK is calling for the national cancer plan to slash waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, saying some patients face unacceptable delays.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are prioritising cancer care as we turn around more than a decade of neglect of our NHS.
“We’re already seeing progress, with 95,000 more people having cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days between July 2024 and May 2025, compared to the same period the previous year.
“The National Cancer Plan will set out how we will improve survival rates further and address the variation between different cancer types.”
