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Mark Hunter MP & the Cheadle Liberal Democrats
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MP joins fight to double lung cancer survival
October 26, 2006 11:01 AM
Mark is supporting the campaign to increase survival rates for people with lung cancer
Mark Hunter, MP for Cheadle, has joined forces with UK lung cancer experts to double lung cancer survival.
Together with colleagues from across the political spectrum, Mark Hunter MP is working with the United Kingdom Lung Cancer Coalition (UKLCC) to urge Government to improve the lives of lung cancer victims.
The UK has one of the worst lung cancer survival rates in Europe1 and only just under four percent (3.9%) of the current NHS cancer research budget is dedicated to lung cancer, 2 despite being the UK's biggest cancer killer.3
"More women die from lung cancer than breast cancer3 and one in eight cases of lung cancer are among people who have never smoked,4" says Mark Hunter MP. "This Lung Cancer Awareness Month we want to help put the disease in the political spotlight."
Currently, you are four times more likely to survive lung cancer in some parts of the country than others.5
According to the UKLCC, thousands of lives can be saved over the next ten years by doubling current survival rates. Currently, just a quarter of people with lung cancer in England (25%) will live for a year and less than one in ten (7% in England) will still be alive five years after diagnosis.6,7
"We know if we apply the best standards of care already being demonstrated in some parts of the country, and if we diagnose people early, we can double one year and five year lung cancer survival rates by 2016," says Dr Mick Peake, chair of the UKLCC and national clinical lead for lung cancer. "Thousands of lives could be saved as a result."
The UK Lung Cancer Coalition (UKLCC) is a powerful new coalition of the UK's leading lung cancer experts, senior NHS and Department of Health professionals, charities and healthcare companies. It is the UK's largest multi-interest group in lung cancer. This is the first time that all the major charities with an interest in lung cancer have come together. www.uklcc.org.uk
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Note to editors:-
Lung cancer kills over 33,000 people each year - more than breast cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer and leukaemia combined.3 Around 22,500 men and 15,200 women are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. 6 Half of all diagnosed will die within six months. 8 1881 people died from lung cancer in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire cancer network in 2003. 9
The main symptoms of lung cancer are: a persistent cough, or change to a longstanding cough; shortness of breath; coughing up phlegm with signs of blood; chest pain; loss of appetite; fatigue and weight loss.10
For further information and interviews, please contact:-
Mark Hunter MP on 020 7219 3000 or UKLCC via Lynsey Conway on 07778 304233 or Sarah Lee on 0207 340 6203
1. EUROCARE 3. Cancer survival in Europe: IARC, 2003 (Accessed 14 Suppl 5, at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14684501&query_hl=1.) and http://www.eurocare.it/
2. Lung Cancer Research in the UK 2006, Report of the NCRI Strategic Planning Group on Lung Cancer", October 2006
3. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/mortality
4. UK figures extrapolated from Mannino DM, Ford E, Giovono GA & Thun M. 'Lung cancer deaths in the United States from 1979 to 1992: an analysis using multiple-cause mortality data. Int J Epidemiol 1998; 27: 159-166
5. http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/nhsperformanceindicators/2002/hacals_d.html
6. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/lung/incidence/
7. One- and five-year survival of patients diagnosed in 1998-2001: 21 common cancers, sex and age, England. 2005. (Accessed at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Expodata/Spreadsheets/D8982.xls)
8. Cancer Research UK Statistics Dept
9. United Kingdom Association of Cancer Registries, 2006, Cancer Networks in 2003, (Accessed at http://www.ukacr.org/)
10. http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=2964#general
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