REGION LAGGING BEHIND IN CANCER SURVIVAL

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 22nd Aug 2007

New cancer survival figures show that improvements are being made, but a local Euro-MP has said that the UK government has much to do more if it is to reverse the trend of the West Midlands region and the rest of the UK lagging behind much of Western Europe.

Cancer incidence and mortality rates are close to, or slightly above, the English average according to previous figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Liz Lynne, Euro-MP for the West Midlands and Co-chair of the European Parliament's campaign group MEP's Against Cancer, has warned against any complacency as a result of the improvements in 11 forms of cancer, which were reported this week in The Lancet Oncology.

Speaking today, Liz said:

"While there has been some improvement in survival rates across the UK, we are still badly behind comparable countries, so these figures should not be taken as a sign that enough is being done to combat the disease."

Some Eastern European countries spend much less per patient and have only slightly lower survival rates than the UK.

"The government can and must do more to ensure that resources are used as efficiently as possible. And after admitting that delays in spotting the disease are partly to blame, it perhaps also needs to examine the records of the best performers to see what can be learned."

"In the meantime I shall continue to campaign for better resources and strategies to tackle cancer at a European level, and ensure that the promises made by the Portuguese for their EU presidency this year are not forgotten."

ENDS