Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:18 pm on 2 November 2016.
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to start by thanking Members for tabling this debate and for helping to raise awareness and draw attention to lung cancer awareness month. I, of course, recognise the impact that lung cancer has on individuals and their families. As has been recognised today, lung cancer kills more people than bowel cancer and breast cancer combined. It has the highest age-standardised mortality rate of any cancer, and the gap between the most and least deprived areas has actually widened. However, the motion doesn’t take account of the latest data, which shows that one-year survival for lung cancer has increased by a third in women and by nearly a quarter in men. Given the high and rapid mortality of lung cancer, and the difficulty in diagnosing, which has been recognised in some contributions today, in its more early and treatable stages, this actually is a real success to recognise and build upon that increased rate of survival.