Breast cancer survival in UK lowest in West

BRITAIN has the worst survival rate for breast cancer in Western Europe, according to a new survey.

Research on cancer rates in 11 European countries showed that the UK survival rate is 60 per cent, compared with an average of 66 per cent for the other nations surveyed.

The full report, funded by the European Union's Health Service Research Committee, is not due to be published until later this year but brief details have been released to BBC 1's Panorama programme, to be broadcast tonight. They show the UK rate is the worst in the Western world.

Survival rates ranged from 50 per cent to 70 per cent with only Eastern European countries worse than Britain.