§ 53. Mr. Liddallasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that deaths from cancer in the city and county borough of Lincoln have risen from 96 in the year 1927 to 126 in the year 1936, and that cancer has now moved up to second place in the list of fatal diseases throughout the country; and as, quite apart, from occupational malignant disease, this increase is due to the Department's failure to recognise the urgent need for full provision for the adequate treatment of the many pre-cancerous general medical and surgical conditions, what steps he proposes to take to remedy this state of affairs?
§ Sir K. WoodThe answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. In any comparison of the numbers of deaths, due weight must be given to two important factors, namely, the greater ages to which people now live and the improved methods of diagnosis. As my hon. Friend will be aware, the work of the Radium Commission in recent years has resulted in the formation of a number of centres for the treatment of cancer, one of which is situated in Lincoln.