Cancer victims face postcode lottery for NHS care

Thousands of cancer patients are dying needlessly every year because of an “unacceptable” postcode lottery of care, MPs warn.

A damning National Audit Office report warns almost 20,000 deaths a year could be avoided if patients from deprived areas fared as well as the richest in society.

Elderly cancer patients are also suffering from outcomes in particular.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee – which ordered the report – slammed the “astounding” survival rate differences within England and “shocking disparities” with other countries in Europe.

Full story in The Mirror 15 January 2015