County's early cancer diagnoses among UK's lowest

The meeting heard there was "a lot of good work happening" to improve early diagnosis in Lancashire and South Cumbria

Fewer cancers are diagnosed before they start to spread in Lancashire and South Cumbria than most other parts of the country.

Health officials said just over half of patients get a cancer diagnosis at stages one and two, putting the region near the bottom of NHS performance nationally.

However rates of diagnosis of the 13 most common types of cancer at those stages have improved at a faster rate than the national average, a meeting of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) heard.

The ICB's chief digital officer, Asim Patel, said, early diagnosis of prostate cancer was the lowest in the country and the overall performance of early diagnosis in the area "doesn't look positive".

In 2018, the NHS was set a target by the government for 75% of all cancer diagnoses to be made at stage one or two by 2028.

The gap between the local and national early diagnosis rates in Lancashire and South Cumbria is widest for lung, upper gastrointestinal and prostate cancer

The area also has a "significantly worse" rate of premature death from cancer than elsewhere in England, the report highlights.

'More to do'

Cancer Research UK said cancer discovered at stage one is usually both small and, crucially, still contained within the part of the body in which it originated.

By stage two, the tumour will be larger, but will not have spread into surrounding tissues, although it may have moved into lymph nodes near the site, depending on the type of cancer.

However, the likelihood of spread is increased at stage three, while by stage four, the cancer will have moved to another organ – known as secondary or metastatic cancer.

Mr Patel told the ICB meeting there was "a lot of good work happening" to improve early diagnosis in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

But he added: "There's a lot more to do here – and this is where we need to focus our attention [when] we talk about [the shift from] sickness to prevention."

The board heard that a number of initiatives had been rolled out, including a targeted lung cancer screening programme.

The programme is now launching in Preston, having already been established in Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre, Blackburn with Darwen and the East Lancashire districts, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.