§ Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Health the result of his request to hospitals to make greater efforts to achieve the registration of all cases of cancer.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThe results have been generally encouraging, and I am satisfied that boards are doing their best. Progress depends largely on the co-operation of medical staffs, and also of general practitioners and medical officers of health for non-hospital cases, and boards are attempting to secure this. A number of hospitals have agreed to take part for the first time. Three more hospital regions have decided to set up central registration bureaux in order to collect records from all hospitals in the region and to stimulate hospitals to improve the standard of record keeping.
§ Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Health, in view of the disquiet at the substantial increase in cancer cases, what new processes resulting from advances in general scientific knowledge have been introduced in an effort to combat the problem.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThe increase in deaths from all forms of cancer in 1953 over 1952 was not substantial and amounted only to 282 (87,924 in 1953 as compared with 87,642 in 1952), and the Comparative Mortality Index (which takes into account the increased age of the population) showed a decrease for women and remained stationary for men.
Advances in general scientific knowledge have contributed to most of the 205W new processes introduced to control cancer, such as developments in irradiation technique; the use of radioactive isotopes; and the introduction of hormones and chemotherapy in treatment. Diagnosis has been improved by the introduction of cytological methods and the wider use of radiography, particularly mass miniature X-rays. Apart from direct research into cancer, basic scientific research, such as on the chemistry of the normal living cell, is highly relevant, since greater knowledge of the working of the normal cell is likely to throw light on the nature of the abnormality leading to malignant changes.