Fewer people are being diagnosed with cancer following emergency presentation at hospital, while there has been an increase in cancer diagnoses through urgent GP referral, new statistics show.

The figures were taken from the updated Routes to Diagnosis data, which show the proportion of cancer patients diagnosed by route from 2006 to 2013 in England.

In 2006 almost a quarter of cancers were diagnosed as an emergency but in 2013 this figure had fallen to 20 per cent. This is against an overall rise in the numbers of cancer cases.

For a common cancer like lung, the proportion diagnosed through the GP two week wait referral route increased from 22 per cent in 2006 to 28 per cent in 2013, while the proportion diagnosed through emergency presentation dropped each year, from 39 per cent in 2006 down to 35 per cent in 2013.

Julia Verne, Head of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health England (PHE), said: “The latest Routes to Diagnosis data shows a positive trend in how cancer is diagnosed in England. The earlier the better if we are to catch up with comparable European countries and I am pleased that our Routes to Diagnosis work has been able to drive this. We should also note the importance of other work like PHE’s Be Clear on Cancer campaigns in helping people spot symptoms early and PHE’s NHS Screening Programmes in helping detect some cancers early."

She added that while emergency presentation is declining overall, it remains high for cancers like liver and pancreas.

Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s really encouraging to see fewer people being diagnosed through emergency routes, because we know survival is poorer and the experience is worse for these patients. When cancer is caught early, we have more options for treatments and a far better chance of beating the disease."

However, she also called for action to address variations in patient care due to cancer type or age and between hospitals, adding that, "the new cancer strategy makes clear recommendations for how we can improve England’s cancer survival and patients’ experience. There should be no reason why we can’t be as good as the best in the world".