Cancer survival rates in Britain are being called unacceptable after a new report found that rates in Britain are much lower than other major countries in Europe and other top economies in the world. In fact, only Ireland and Poland had lower cancer rates according to the results of the new international health study.
According to experts, if the UK were able to meet average cancer survival rates that exist in Europe about 10,000 lives every year would be saved. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report annually takes health records from all 34 countries that are members of the international group and other nations where the data is available.
According to the report women that were diagnosed with breast cancer were most likely to be in recovery five years later in every almost other country than Britain. The only countries where survival rates were lower were Poland, the Czech Republic, and Ireland.
This was not the only bad news for Britain as news also came out this week that the UK has the highest rates of infant death compared to other similar countries with similar economies. In fact, the Health at a Glance 2013 study found that 4.3 infants out of a thousand die in Britain compared with the OECD average of 4.1.
Additionally, researchers found that in the UK 40% of all teens had already been drunk more than twice at the young age of 15 and it was one of the top four countries where there were more girls confessing to drunkenness then boys.
Karol Sikora, a cancer specialist, explained that in the UK the system has so many delays worked into it that people’s treatment is delayed when it should be aggressive. She added that there has to be a way to speed up the process for better results.
