Death rates from prostate cancer have exposed massively unequal survival prospects for patients in different parts of England, it was claimed today.Campaigners said the differences amounted to an “unacceptable” postcode lottery. Depending where men lived, deaths from the disease swung from more than 40 per cent below the national average to the same number of percentage points above it.
Rates across Shropshire – apart from Shrewsbury and Atcham – are above average, Office of National Statistics figures reveal.
They are based on parliamentary constituencies in England.
The average annual death rate for prostate cancer is 26.6 per 100,000 members of the population.
Ludlow has the highest level in Shropshire, with a figure 28 per cent above average, while levels for Shrewsbury and Atcham are two per cent below.
The figures were not connected with affluence or social and ethnic background.
They show a number of the richest, middle class regions had the worst death rates, while some of the poorest areas had the best.
No-one was available for comment from Shropshire’s two primary care trusts.
But previous public health reports have shown the incidence of prostate cancer increasing in the county.
About 10,000 of the 35,000 men in the UK diagnosed with prostate cancer each year die from the disease.
Sixty per cent of cases occur in men aged over 70.
Today’s figures were presented as evidence of health service inequality by Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, a coalition group of voluntary sector and professional organisations.
Campaign supporter Frank Chinegwundoh, a consultant urologist, said: “More than any other cancer, the story of prostate cancer in the UK remains a story of inequalities.
“Prostate cancer sufferers report worse care, lower awareness and poorer outcomes than other patients.
“Now these figures show that even amongst prostate cancer patients, a man’s chances of dying depends on where he lives.”
Prostate cancer death figures based on constituency per 100,000 population:
- Ludlow 34 (28 per cent above average).
- Telford 31 (17 per cent above average).
- North Shropshire 28 (five per cent above average).
- The Wrekin 28 (five per cent above average).
- Shrewsbury and Atcham 26 (two per cent below average).
- The highest rates in England are in Lewisham West and Brent South, both at 38 (43 per cent above the average).
- The best record is North Southwark and Bermondsey at 15 (44 per cent below average).
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