Survival for most cancer types is improving.[1] This progress can generally be attributed to faster diagnosis and advances in treatment. However, there is still scope for improvement and some cancers have shown very little improvement since the early 1970s. Increasing cancer survival remains a major priority of Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer,[2] resulting in initiatives such as the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI), which is a public sector/third sector partnership between the Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team, and Cancer Research UK. The role of NAEDI is to promote the earlier diagnosis of cancer, and this will involve researching ways to further improve survival from cancer.

Prostate cancer has shown the largest improvement in age-standardised ten-year net survival since the early 1970s, from 25% in 1971-1972 to 84% in 2010-2011 (an absolute survival difference of almost 60 percentage points). However, interpretation of survival trends for prostate cancer is made difficult as the types of prostate cancers diagnosed have changed over time due to PSA testing. The next largest increases in ten-year survival are for malignant melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemia with absolute survival differences of 43, 41 and 39 percentage points, respectively, between 1971-1972 and 2010-2011. Bowel cancer and female breast cancer have also shown large improvements in survival over the last forty years, with absolute survival differences of 35 and 38 percentage points, respectively. between 1971-1972 and 2010-2011.

There has been very little improvement in age-standardised ten-year net survival since the early 1970s for the four lowest surviving cancers in men and women: cancers of the brain, oesophagus, and lung have all shown absolute increases of less than 10% percentage points since 1971-1972, whilst pancreatic cancer has had no change.

Age-Standardised Ten-Year Net Survival Trends, Adults (Aged 15-99), Selected Cancers, England and Wales, 1971-2011