Cameron still trots out 5,000 avoidable cancer deaths even though it's already been debunked

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Cameron still trots out 5,000 avoidable cancer deaths even though it's already been debunked

Here's Cameron's speech on the NHS
http://bit.ly/kMN76F
He says: "We’re getting better, and in some cases we’re closing the gap with our European neighbours, but we’ve still got some way to go. If we had cancer survival rates at the average in Europe, we’d save 5,000 lives a year."

As I pointed out on the 15th April, a month ago, this figure is from TEN YEARS AGO. It is not evidence that we're still getting better, and it tells us nothing about how far we have to go. Wheeling out this figure again is staggering. This is the behaviour of people who don't care whether their figures are accurate, current, or relevant.
http://bit.ly/dIDUzS

Then the trouble starts. In large letters, alone on one entire page, you see: “If the NHS was performing at truly world-class levels we would save an extra 5,000 lives from cancer every year.” The reference for this is a paper in the British Journal of Cancer called “What if cancer survival in Britain were the same as in Europe: how many deaths are avoidable?”

This study does not aim to predict the future: in fact, it looks at data from 1985 to 1999 (seriously) which is a very long time ago. It finds that if we’d had the mean EU cancer survival rates, in the 80s and 90s, then we’d have had 7,000 fewer deaths then. Not 5,000 fewer. And to put the big number in context, by this study’s calculation, that means 6-7% of UK cancer deaths were avoidable in the 1990s. Since then, we’ve seen the massive 2000 NHS Cancer Plan, a new decade, and a new century. This paper says nothing about the number of lives we “would save” each year in 2011, and citing it in that context is bizarre.
- 19 May 2011
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about 1 year ago MattRaverz (Twitter) liked this post.

about 1 year ago Stephen responded:

Cameron is always telling porkies. What does he care if some spod in the Guardian points it out- none of his voters or MPs notice- and probably his advisers don't even point it out to him. Perhaps he even goes on believing these things??
He does it all the time at PMQs, get a tough question, tell a porkie and throw an insult to get out of tight corner, and move on safe in the knowledge that there is no comeback- just a pat question from his own benches.
the dogs bark but the caravan moves on

about 1 year ago Richard Washington responded:

I really hope someone pulls Cameron up on these numbers during PM's question time.
I wonder if any MP's read your blog? Or follow you on twitter?
Something I still don't get is why anyone is impressed when he says things like 'My determination to deliver a first-class, world-class health service – that’s got stronger.' brilliant, you want to improve it! Noone thinks it is perfect, everyone wants to improve it. Making up figures isn't the way to demonstrate your competence.
There seems to be a very odd use use of the word 'modernisation' banded around at the moment, especially by Cameron. But also on the News, suggesting some MPs and GPs etc were against 'modernisation' aka Cameron's plans. The implication being that if you are not for Cameron's changes, you are against modernising the NHS.

about 1 year ago krisdye liked this post.

about 1 year ago Mike Dimmick responded:

Richard Washington: The term 'modernisation' is a deliberate attempt to frame the conversation. Who wouldn't want something to be modern? It suggests that the way the NHS currently is, is outmoded. I entirely reject this. I don't feel that anything has to be done. Arguably a free-at-the-point-of-use universal healthcare system is far more modern than a collection of private fiefdoms preying on those who have had the bad luck to become ill or be injured. That's what we had in the first half of the 20th century, do we really want to take that retrograde step?

9 months ago kristianstrong liked this post.

9 months ago Humphrey Ripley liked this post.

9 months ago Josiah Gardiner liked this post.

9 months ago Emil Dibble liked this post.
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Cameron still trots out 5,000 avoidable cancer deaths even though it's already been debunked

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