NHS could save £210m a year if all cancers were diagnosed as early as in best areas

Nearly half of all cancers in England are diagnosed at an advanced stage, when the chances of survival are reduced and treatment is more expensive, an analysis has found.

Although the research from the charity Cancer Research UK found that 83% of breast cancers were diagnosed at stage I or II, the proportion of lung cancers diagnosed at an early stage was just 23%. The proportion of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas diagnosed at stage I or II was also low, at 32%, while the proportion of ovarian and colorectal cancers identified at these stages was 44% and 45% respectively. Overall the analysis found that 54% of cancers were diagnosed at stages I and II.

There was also wide geographical variation across England in the …