Patients with breast, colon and bowel cancer have a far greater chance of surviving than when the NHS was born.

This is despite a huge rise in the number of cancer cases owing to a growing population and people living longer.

However, the figures showed that patients suffering stomach or lung cancer still have a poor prognosis.

The analysis, by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), covers England and Wales and looks at the survival rates for people five years after diagnosis.

The survival rate for colon cancer more than doubled from 18% to 47%, and breast cancer survival also more than doubled, from 37% to 77%, between 1946 and 1998.

Cervical cancer survival rates have also increased, from 35% for people diagnosed between 1945 and 1947, to 61% for those diagnosed between 1996 and 1999.

Rectal cancer survival rates more than doubled over the same period, from 22% to 50%.

In contrast, although survival for stomach cancer has improved (4% to 13%) and also for lung cancer (3% to 6%), the prognosis is still very poor for both cancers.