Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 17 July 2018.
Rich or poor, rural or urban, man or woman, cancer is an indiscriminate disease, yet diagnosis is anything but. Recent research by Macmillan shows that cancer diagnosis in this country remains a postcode lottery, and our poorest communities consistently face later stage diagnosis. Where stage is recorded, more than one in four people in Wales were diagnosed with cancer at its latest stage, which is stage 4. This is not only unacceptable in the context of our rates being the worst of any country in the UK, it's not acceptable full stop. For some cancers, the wait between first suspecting that something is wrong and diagnosis is the longest in Europe. We all know that catching cancer early saves lives. First Minister, you can save lives. Will you commit to setting and sticking to a 28-day cancer diagnosis target for all so that we can catch cancer early?