Charity to fund more cancer research in Yorkshire

Research projects will be funded at the Leeds Cancer Centre

A charity is to invest £5m to improve cancer research in Yorkshire and tackle what it claims is a "north-south divide" in cancer survival rates.

Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) said government figures showed the county had higher-than-average death rates for the most common cancers.

The money will also be used to improve diagnostic and screening services.

High levels of smoking and alcohol consumption in the region are two of the reasons for higher cancer levels.

Others causes include rising obesity rates, socio-economic factors, the area's industrial past and inequalities in terms of accessing treatment and care, the charity said.

'Alarming' divide

The Office for National Statistics figures also show the region has the third highest cancer incidence rates in England.

YCR chief executive Charles Rowett said Yorkshire received "disproportionally low" research funding and said the divide in cancer incidence and mortality rates was "extremely alarming".

Yorkshire accounts for 8.3% of the UK population but receives just 4.2% of the total amount of charity money spent on cancer research, according to the Association of Medical Research Charities.

"Nearly three-quarters of the national funding goes into the South East and in particular London, Oxford and Cambridge, despite the fact the cancer outcomes in those regions are amongst the best in the country," Mr Rowett said.

"There is a really well-proven link between the amounts of research that goes on in a particular region and cancer outcomes."

The new initiative is a partnership between YCR, the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Leeds Cancer Centre at St James's University Hospital.

It is hoped the money will enable them to attract leading scientists and clinicians to expand the range of cancer research.