More than one in six cancer patients across Maidstone, Malling and the Weald are only diagnosed after an emergency admission to hospital, figures show.

The survival rates of emergency admission are substantially worse than routine referrals as patients are more likely to have more advanced and difficult to treat cancers.

Cancer Research UK has called for more awareness, better training of GPs and increased resources for the NHS to help ensure more people are diagnosed early.

In the 12 months to March, 2,235 patients were admitted to hospital with cancer in the NHS West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group area, according to Public Health England.

Most will have been referred by their GP or other routes such as breast or cervical screening programmes.

But 381 patients - 17% - were classed as an ‘emergency presentation of cancer’, meaning they were first diagnosed at the hospital, after coming to A&E, or while being treated for something else.

Fiona Osgun of Cancer Research UK said it was important for patients to see their GP if they noticed a change in their body.

“Your chances of survival can change so much if diagnosed earlier”, she said.

“Generally, if symptoms are severe enough to cause an emergency presentation, it is highly likely the cancer is advanced.

“The treatments that we know give the best chance of cure like surgery are either harder to do or aren’t medically viable at stage three or four.

“Treatment options are limited, and in some cases you’re not going to be treating the patient for a cure by that point, but treating them palliatively.”

According to the latest annual Cancer Patient Experience Survey, 23% of patients in west Kent who went to their GP with a cancer-related health complaint before they were diagnosed said they saw their doctor between three and five times before going to hospital.

Reasons behind emergency presentations are “complex” and not necessarily the result of symptoms being missed by GPs, Ms Ogsun said.