The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 24 January 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking whether regional figures for five year survival rates for skin cancer are available. (181291)
For England, five-year survival rates are available for adult patients (aged 15-99 years) diagnosed with skin cancer during 1999-2003 and followed up to the end of 2004. These are given in Table 1 and are also available on the National Statistics website.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14007&Pos=3&ColRank=1&Rank=422
Survival rates by NHS region for 58 cancers including skin cancer diagnosed during 1971-90 in England and Wales were published in Cancer Survival Trends* in 1999. Figures for skin cancer, broken down by region are given in Table 2.
Five-year relative survival Number of patients Percentage 95 per cent.CI3 Men 13,196 80.4 (79.2-81.7) Women 17,005 89.4 (88.5-90.3) 1 As cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, the relative rates for all ages (15 to 99) have been age-standardised to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time, thus making them comparable with previously published figures. 2 Melanoma of the skin is classified as code C43 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 3 95 per cent. confidence intervals (CI). Source: Office for National Statistics
Men Women England 68 82 Northern and Yorkshire 69 83 Trent 66 82 Anglia and Oxford 72 82 North Thames 66 83 South Thames 66 82 South and West 70 81 West Midlands 71 84 North and West 63 81 1 As cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, the relative rates for all ages (15 to 99) have been age-standardised to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time, thus making them comparable with previously published figures. 2 Melanoma of the skin is classified as code 172 in the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). Sources: Office for National Statistics Table 4.5: Cancer survival trends by NHS region, selected cancers, patients diagnosed 1971 to 1990: age-standardised relative survival rates (with 95 per cent. confidence intervals) at one and five years after diagnosis, and average increases in relative survival on the National Statistics website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/xsdataset.asp?More=Y and published in: Coleman MP et al (1999) ‘Cancer survival Trends in England and Wales 1971 to 1995: deprivation and NHS region’. Studies in Medical and Population Subjects No.61. London: The Stationery Office.