Cancer survival: Macmillan hails major improvement

Some cancer survivors in England and Wales are living nearly six times longer than 40 years ago, figures show.
 
But the Macmillan Cancer Support data highlights a "woeful" lack of progress for some types of the disease, such as lung and stomach cancer.
 
The charity has calculated median survival times – the time taken until half of those diagnosed have died.
 
The Department of Health says it is giving high priority to cancers where survival rates have not improved.
 
Macmillan Cancer Support carried out an analysis of survival times and estimates for 20 cancers going back four decades, drawing on research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.