LUNG cancer survival rates across East Lancashire are among the lowest in the country, according to a new report.

The Government's cancer tsar Professor Mike Richards said primary care trusts must get better at diagnosing cancers at an earlier stage if they are to continue to improve survival rates.

The number of lung cancer patients alive one year after diagnosis under the care of both NHS Blackburn with Darwen and NHS East Lancashire fell within the lowest quarter of trust results.The rate was 24.5 per cent in Blackburn with Darwen and 23 per cent in NHS East Lancashire, the fourth worst in the north west.

Both trusts were given a red 'warning' indicator for failing to achieve a 62-day treatment standard, the time elapsed between urgent referral and patients' first treatment.

NHS Blackburn with Darwen also fell within the lowest quarter for one-year breast cancer survival rates, at 91.4 per cent.

And it was highlighted for the low proportion of eligible people undertaking cervical and breast cancer screening and its cancer death rate of 192 people per 100,000.

Dr Gifford Kerr, NHS Blackburn with Darwen's associate director of public health, said that prevention was key to improving survival rates through a range of health issues such as housing, smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of exercise.

Dr Ellis Friedman, NHS East Lancashire’s director of public health, said its performance on cervical and breast cancer screening was ‘reasonably good given the population mix of our area and the impact of deprivation levels’.

But he said the trust needed the help of the public to address lung cancer survival rates.