Cancer survival rates drop in Labour-run-Wales, only partly due to Covid

The latest all cancers combined survival rate statistics for Wales revealed a significant fall from 75.9% in 2019 to 71.6% in 2020.

Public Health Wales said that the result was only “partly due to delays in diagnosis due to people staying at home during lockdowns and changes to accessing NHS Wales healthcare, diagnostic tests, and treatment in response to the pandemic.”

The latest NHS cancer wait statistics revealed a decrease against the 62-day target in September to 52.9%, compared to 57.3% the previous month. This was the second lowest on record.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Russell George MS said:

“The Labour Government have cut our Welsh NHS’ budget in real terms three times over the years and have presided over target times for cancer treatment consistently being missed. It’s no wonder cancer survival rates are falling.

“Labour has run our health service for a quarter of a century and the deprivation gap for cancer survival has actually increased over the last decade, which the Labour Government can’t simply blame on the pandemic.

“To tackle this issue head-on, the Welsh Conservatives would spend the full Barnett consequential 20% uplift for health on our Welsh NHS and deliver a workforce plan with a tuition fee refund for healthcare workers that stay in Wales at its heart to boost staffing numbers.”

The deprivation gap for unstandardised five-year net survival for cancer has increased from 17.2% in 2006-2010 to 17.8% in 2016-2020.