Almost 24,000 people every year within England receive the dreaded lung cancer diagnosis when the disease is in its later stages- comparing that to the 15% of cases are caught early on, often leading to more successful treatment.
The next phase of the NHS Be Clear on Cancer campaign launches today trying to drive home the awareness of the signs and symptoms of lung cancer. This is hopefully going to result in encouraging people with persistent cough to visit their doctor and not ignoring it or assuming it will go away with a change in weather. Also other symptoms can include: repeated chest infections, coughing up blood and breathlessness.
This raising of awareness is also being done in conjunction with Public Health England who are a new executive agency of the Department of Health, which took up its full responsibilities on 1 April 2013. PHE will work with national and local government, industry and the NHS to protect and improve the nation’s health and support healthier choices and will be addressing inequalities by focusing on removing barriers to good health.
Lung cancer is at present England’s biggest cancer killer, as it causes around 28,000 deaths each year. Those who are diagnosed at the early stages are five times more likely to survive lung cancer for at least five years longer than those diagnosed at the later stages.
This new campaign of raising awareness has been met with positivity as Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, said:
“More needs to be done to raise awareness of the signs of lung cancer and overcome the fears preventing people presenting early to their doctors so that we can save more lives across all communities.
“Only by increasing awareness of potential symptoms, and encouraging people to visit their doctor sooner rather than later, will we see the number of early diagnoses, and people surviving the disease, start to rise.”
Lung cancer affects people of all ages and races but is most common in those who are over 50. Smoking is a major risk factor for lung cancer but around one in eight people with lung cancer has never smoked. The risk of lung cancer gets worse as you get older, but finding it early improves the chances of successful treatment.
