1 in 4 will get cancer, warns charity

Cancer rates are increasing at such a pace that four in ten people in Britain will be diagnosed with the disease at some point during their life, a health charity said on Thursday. Forty-two percent of people currently develop the disease during their lifetime and more than two thirds of those -- 64 percent -- will die as a result of the cancer, MacMillan Cancer Support said. The charity said the number of cancer sufferers in the UK has risen by 35 percent over the last decade from 1.5 million in 1998 to 2 million in 2008. Experts believe the increase is in part because people are being diagnosed and surviving longer with the disease, and expect the trend to continue. The number of people living with cancer is expected to double to four million over the next 20 years, posing a "massive challenge" on health services, MacMillan warned. Ciarán Devane, the charity's chief executive, said: "It is really alarming that the number of people who will get cancer is now well past one in three, and that there are so many more people with cancer today than even ten years ago. "The NHS really needs to recognise cancer’s long term impact on people’s lives, to plan better services and to develop more personalised care." The charity said many people living with cancer are suffering ongoing, long term health problems and need support several years after diagnosis and treatment. It wants to see more services to enable patients to recover at home and prevent the requirement for emergency hospital treatment. “There are currently two million people living with cancer in the UK and that number is doubling to four million over the next twenty years," Devane added. "Yet no one thinks the country can afford to double its spending on cancer. We’ve therefore got to become twice as effective in how we spend that money. “We have a massive challenge ahead if we are to keep up with the relentless toll cancer takes on people’s health, and the NHS must rise to it.” In January Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced a £750 million cancer strategy for Britain designed to drive up survival rates. He said the plans could save an extra 5,000 lives a year and included new screening programmes and measures to increase early diagnosis, as well as a £10 million awareness campaign.