Mapping cancer care

Guidance on reducing mortality from cancer in deprived areas has been produced by the National Cancer Action Team (NCAT), in collaboration with the Health Inequalities National Support Teams. Aimed at Health and Wellbeing Boards and GP commissioning Consortia, the guide uses a format developed by NCAT and NHS Doncaster as part of a lung cancer early intervention project and includes some helpful discussion about benchmarking tools and data sources. The Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has done some evaluation of whether UK Cancer plans have made a difference to geographical inequalities in cancer survival. Looking at one year survival rates across the 28 cancer networks in England between 1991 and 2006, the team found that the north-south divide in relative survival “became less pronounced” but geographical inequalities persisted for all cancers with the exception of breast cancer. Inequalities in participation in colorectal screening are evidenced in a review of uptake for the initial phase of the programme (2006-2009). Researchers at UCL found low uptake in the most ethnically diverse areas and “a striking gradient” by social and economic status, with a 61% uptake in least deprived areas but only 35% in the most deprived.