Cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once was. Our most feared disease is turning into a condition that people live with, rather than die from, figures published yesterday show.

In the past 30 years, overall survival rates from cancer have doubled, thanks to better treatments, earlier diagnosis and greater public awareness of the warning symptoms.

Almost half of patients (46.2 per cent) diagnosed in 2000-01 were expected to live 10 years, compared with a quarter (23.6 per cent) of those diagnosed in 1971, according to the charity Cancer Research UK.

Ten-year survival is a benchmark of success in cancer treatment and is regarded as close to a cure.

The breakneck progress, that has accelerated in the past decade, is set to continue, experts predicted. Among 10 goals announced yesterday, Cancer Research UK set a target of 66 per cent overall five-year survival by 2020, up from 50 per cent in 2001.

However, Britain still trails Europe in terms of cancer survival, despite the recent improvement. The last European survey of cancer , Eurocare-3, published in 2003 showed British patients died sooner than in most other European countries.

Professor Michel Coleman, a cancer epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who calculated the latest figures, said cancer was still a “major public health problem” that would affect one in three people during their lifetimes.

“Survival rates for many cancers have been lower in the UK than in many comparable countries. The differences may be less when Eurocare-4 is published later this year - I am hopeful we may have caught up,” he said.

Professor Mike Richards, the Government’s national cancer director, said: “I await Eurocare-4 with interest. I am optimistic we will see a narrowing of the gap [in survival rates]. We have seen an acceleration in survival in the 90s [in the UK] and I have every hope that will be continued.”

A key reason for Britain’s past poor performance has been delays in diagnosing patients - hence their cancers were more advanced when treatment started - compared with other countries. But extra investment in the NHS since 2000 has boosted the number of cancer specialists and shortened waits for treatment. About 250,000 patients are treated for cancer in Britain each year and more than 99 per cent are now treated within the Government target of two months.

Professor Richards admitted that uptake of new cancer drugs was slower in Britain than in other countries, as highlighted in a report by the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, last week. Most of the drugs had been approved for use by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) and efforts had been made to speed its assessment process. But he added: “Drugs are only one part of the answer.”

Early detection of cancer, greater use of specialist surgery, screening programmes to detect cancer at an earlier stage and advances in chemotherapy and radiotherapy have all helped to increase survival rates.

Cancer is not one disease but many and the chances of survival vary widely with the type of illness. A patient who has pancreatic cancer, the most lethal form of disease, has a 2.5 per cent chance of living five years, compared with testicular cancer which has a 95 per cent survival rate.

There have been big gains in survival rates for some cancers while almost no progress has been made against others. Five-year survival rates for breast cancer have increased from just over 50 per cent to almost 80 per cent over the period. But pancreatic cancer and lung cancer have seen zero improvement with survival rates remaining below 5 per cent.

Harpal Kumar, who was appointed chief executive of Cancer Research UK last month, said there was “a lot to celebrate” in the survival figures but also “a lot further to go”.

“Cancer scientists agree we are at the dawn of a new era in cancer research,” he said. “New diagnostics and new treatments are on the way and there will be a pay-off in terms of improved survival. Great strides are being made thanks to the basic research done in the past.”

Dr Kumar set out 10 goals to be achieved by 2020 against which progress could be measured. They include reducing the number of adult smokers by four million (from 12 to 8 million), reducing the incidence of cancer in under-75s by a quarter, doubling the use of better targeted treatments with fewer side effects and increasing the proportion of patients who are diagnosed at an early stage from the present 45 per cent to 66 per cent.

He said: “Our goals are as broad as they are ambitious. They recognise the importance of furthering our fundamental biological understanding of cancer while, at the same time, taking that knowledge out of the lab and turning it into new treatments.”

Jo-Anne Tedd, accounts officer: ‘I feel like I have got a new lease of life’

It was a fortnight before her wedding when Jo-Anne Tedd was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2002. She had consulted her GP for haemorrhoids and he referred her to the local hospital in Warwickshire where she lives.

“It was a shock - it is not what you expect. I got an appointment pretty quickly and the consultant reassured me it could be treated.”

Two days after her wedding, Ms Tedd, 44, was in hospital having her bowel removed in a procedure known as an ileostomy. The honeymoon had to wait.

“I had always feared having a colostomy bag. However, since my surgery I have done things I never thought I would.” She had suffered for years from ulcerative colitis, a disorder in which the lining of the bowel becomes inflamed. Although unrelated to cancer it had made her feel unwell and restricted what she could do. Removal of her bowel solved that problem overnight.

“I am fitter, stronger, and in better health than before. I do more now than ever. If you have a positive outlook it makes it easier - you deal with it. But you still have your moments,” she said.

She has bought a 600cc Suzuki Bandit motorbike to join her husband, Peter, an engineer and keen motorcyclist, on outings to the Cotswolds. She has also learned how to snowboard and does fun runs.

Ms Tedd works as an accounts officer for a large organisation and the couple have four grown-up children from previous marriages. She said: “I was devastated to find out I had cancer. However, I feel like I have got a new lease of life. Of course not everyone is as fortunate as me.”

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