BRITAIN’S cancer survival rates are worse than those in other high-income countries, a report claims.

The UK is bottom of the table when it comes to several types of the disease.

Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway have better five-year survival rates overall for lung, stomach, rectal, lung, colon and pancreas cancers.

It means fewer British patients are alive five years after being diagnosed.

The figures were compiled by the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, which looked at 3.9 million cases from 1995 to 2014.

But the NHS blasted the report, published in Lancet Oncology.

A spokesman said: “It is based on out-of-date data and, in the five years since, cancer survival has actually hit a record high.”

Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, said: “We’re on the right track but the numbers show we can do better.”

The UK has improved since 1995, with a 14 percentage point rise to 62 per cent for five-year survival for rectal cancer.

One-year survival for lung, ovarian and oesophageal cancers all rose by 15 points.

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