BOWEL cancer patients in the Bradford and Airedale districts have some of the highest one year survival rates in the country, according to Public Health England data.

But outcomes for bowel cancer across Yorkshire vary widely between hospitals and lag behind the best UK and European institutions, according to Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR), which is now using these postcode lottery figures from across the region to highlight the difference in standards of treatment and care for the disease.

It is investing £1.5 million in a five-year scheme using those figures and gathering more data to drive up standards which it says could help save up to 150 lives in the region every year.

The figures show Bradford Districts CCG had 77.8 per cent of patients surviving one year after diagnosis in 2012 and Airedale, Wharfedale & Craven CCG had 79 per cent, which topped the England average of 76.7 per cent. Close to the country's average was Bradford City CCG with 74.4 per cent.

At odds with those survivor figures is that the Bradford City CCG area is also known to have a poor uptake rate for its bowel cancer screening programme.

YCR research earlier this year revealed only 35.7 per cent of invited 60 to 69 year-olds within the NHS Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) took part in a bowel cancer screening programme over a 30-month period to 2014 with the rate being the lowest anywhere in England, and well below the national average of 58.3 per cent.

A YCR spokesman said people could be confused by the conflicting information of good survivor rates and poor screening uptake but a possible explanation could be that Bradford has a young population with a large proportion of Asian people who do not drink alcohol as alcohol is a significant contributor to bowel cancer.

Charles Rowett, chief executive officer at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “The variation in bowel cancer outcomes across Yorkshire is shocking and needs to be tackled urgently.

"Thanks to the continued support of people living in and around Yorkshire, we are delighted to be able to fund research that will address these huge discrepancies so that everyone in the region, no matter where they live, has the very best possible chance of survival.”

Bowel cancer expert Professor Phil Quirke, who will be leading the team behind the new scheme working closely with hospitals, said: "The aim is for all hospitals in the region to achieve the ‘gold standard’ in bowel cancer treatment and care, saving the lives of 150 patients every year in Yorkshire.”

In 2012, 3,476 people were diagnosed with bowel cancer in Yorkshire and based on the average Yorkshire one year survival rate, an estimated 2,638 patients survived one year after diagnosis.

If all areas in Yorkshire matched the England average, an additional 28 people would have survived for one year after being diagnosed. If Yorkshire matched the best in England – Stafford and Surrounds CCG at 83.4 per cent - an additional 261 people in the region would have survived at least one year.