THE stage at which cancer is diagnosed differs depending on where people live, according to new research by the charity Macmillan Cancer Support and the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit of Public Health Wales.

For the first time, research provides information by groups of local doctors’ practices - known as GP clusters.

Cancer tends to be the most treatable the earlier it is diagnosed.

The research shows that for the whole of Wales, almost 17 per cent of new cancer patients registered with a GP were diagnosed with cancer at its earliest stage. The research uses the latest available data for Wales.

This new data also show how many new cancer patients registered with GP practices are diagnosed with cancer in local areas with different levels of disadvantage.

The research findings can drive new insights which are important in the planning of primary care services.

For instance, around a quarter of newly diagnosed cancer patients in GP clusters within each of the Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board areas live in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Wales.

The data shows too that 35 per cent of people newly diagnosed with cancer live in a rural area, while the rural population as a whole only accounts for 32 per cent of the total population of Wales.

That over a third of new cancer patients live in rural areas in Wales demonstrates the size of the challenge GP clusters and health boards face in planning cancer care in such areas,, and the difficulty many patients might experience in reaching services.

“For the first time, we have in-depth data about the number of people diagnosed with and living with cancer in Wales’s networks of GP practices,” said Richard Pugh, head of services for Macmillan Wales.

“This new information varies by age, sex, area disadvantage, rurality and the cancer stage at diagnosis, but it does not explain why these variations are happening.

“Although sometimes this variation is small, we want health boards and other organisations who design and deliver cancer care in Wales to look at this new data in depth to shape local services and to drive earlier cancer diagnosis.”