Number of people diagnosed with cancer in UK ‘will rise by a third by 2040’

NHS risks being overwhelmed by sheer volume of new diagnoses, charity warns government

The number of people in the UK diagnosed with cancer will rise by a third by 2040, taking the number of new cases every year to more than half a million for the first time, experts predict.

Analysis by Cancer Research UK finds that, on current trends, cancer cases will rise from the 384,000 cases diagnosed every year now to 506,000 in the next 17 years.

The charity warned that the NHS risked being “overwhelmed by the sheer volume of new cancer diagnoses” unless the government acted.