CANCER sufferers in the UK have the worst survival record in the developed world according to a survey published in July this year.

The study by market analysts Datamonitor found that British cancer patients were more likely to die than those in Europe or the US due to poor NHS funding, public awareness and screening programmes, which lead to late diagnosis of the disease.

Cancer is a major cause of morbidity in the UK with more than 262,000 new cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) registered in 1998. The lifetime risk of developing cancer is more than one in three. The disease is more likely to develop later in life, with around 65 per cent of cancers diagnosed in people over the age of 65.

There are more than 200 different types of cancer, but four of them lung, breast, large bowel (colorectal) and prostate account for over half of all new cases. In the young, other cancers are more common. Leukaemia is the most common cancer in children representing one third of all cases. In young men aged 20-39, testicular cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer.

Lack of funding has meant that not only is there low-level spending on cancer drugs and treatment facilities, but also insufficient cancer specialists who can provide best care for these patients.

The Department of Health (DoH) has contested the findings, which it claims do not take account of recent investment in cancer care. But the research gives shocking statistics about the survival rate of the commonest cancers.

The five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer, where patients diagnosed early have the best chance of survival, was lower in the UK than elsewhere with the survival rate for patients diagnosed in the first stage only 70 per cent in the UK compared with 90 per cent in the US. In the case of the first stage of breast cancer, five-year survival in the UK was 78 per cent, compared with 97 per cent in the US. The research also found that cancer patients in the UK were far more likely to be diagnosed when the disease was advanced and significantly harder to treat, reducing their chances of survival.

Only 50 per cent of UK patients with colorectal cancer were diagnosed in early stages (stages one and two) compared with 63 per cent in the US. For prostate cancer, 58 per cent of UK patients were diagnosed early, compared to 70 per cent in the US.

Datamonitor blames the lack of screening for cancers, other than cervical and breast cancer, for late diagnosis and warned it had "potentially fatal" implications. Despite most cancers being preventable or even curable if caught early, lack of awareness and screening programmes have further compounded the problem of low survival and many cancer patients continue to be diagnosed or treated at a later stage when the possibility of success is greatly diminished.

Charlie Jarvis, four, whose cancer plight has raised £60,000 through public fundraising in Swindon, was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, which ravages the immune system, a year ago. After being told by British doctors that they could do no more to help her, Charlie's parents Paul and Samantha appealed for help in raising the money to send her to the American Bruzinski Clinic in Houston, Texas. Now on a drug trial aimed at slowing down the progression of her cancer, Charlie is doing well.

Paul Jarvis said: "The results from trials of the drug have been very good in Europe and now we've just got to wait to see what happens."

In September 2000 the Department of Health published the NHS cancer plan, which sets out a programme of action to improve cancer prevention, deduction, treatment and research. This has been supported by significant extra funding and by 2003-4 an additional £570 million will be allocated to NHS cancer services.