Thousands more people could be saved from cancer if some areas were quicker at diagnosing patients - and Kent and Medway are in the bottom 25% when it comes to speed.

An investigation by Cancer Research UK looked at data across England in 2012 and 2013, and whether various strands of the disease were diagnosed early – at stage one or two – or late, at stage three or four.

Kent and Medway came in 21st out of 25 regions across the whole country. Almost 48% of cancer patients were diagnosed late. That is equivalent to 5,506 people.

According to the cancer charity, if Kent and Medway has diagnosis rates that matched the South West - which is the best in the country - 772 of those people would have caught the disease and started treatment earlier.

The difference between a late and early diagnosis is frequently the difference between life and death, and if all regions in the country matched up with Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire 20,000 more people could benefit from a greater chance of survival.

Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said: “Wherever you live, an early diagnosis of cancer will give you more treatment options and a better chance of survival. So it’s unacceptable to see such variation across England.

“It’s not easy to make sure that all cancer patients are diagnosed as early as possible, but it’s vitally important.”

Dr Jodie Moffat at Cancer Research UK, added: “We don’t know for sure why there’s such variation across England and it’s likely that a lot of factors are coming into play. These might include patients not going to their doctor as early as they could with possible cancer symptoms, and GPs sometimes failing to suspect cancer or not referring patients for diagnostic tests promptly.”

Councillor Teresa Murray, health spokeswoman for the Medway Labour group said: “Health inequalities data has long shown that Medway is behind the south east in particular and the rest of the UK more widely when it comes to the prevalence of heart disease and cancer so this new research is really disappointing because it shows that the improvements we need are not being made fast enough.

“This is also a red warning light for the potential damage that forthcoming cuts to public health will cause. Timely cancer diagnosis depends on people being able to recognise warning signs in their own body and before that get the crucial support they need to prevent the illness in the first place by making lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking or improved diet with increased exercise.

“People in Medway deserve better as cancer treatment improves I want those I represent to feel reassured they will get the right diagnosis and access to treatment before it’s too late. I will ask for this item to be added to the work programme for the Medway Health and Adults scrutiny committee so that we can understand exactly what’s going wrong in Medway.”

Medway’s head of health Cllr David Brake, Kent County Council, Medway Maritime Hospital and the Medway CCG have been approached for a comment.