Interesting story on BBC radio a couple of nights ago, based on a report in the Lancet Oncology, about cancer survival rates in the developed world .
The item (on the 6PM news, Radio 4) noted that despite massively increased investment in the NHS, our survival rates for cancer still lagged below those of European countries.
At first I thought this was just another example of our 'glorious' NHS failing to live up to the expectations placed upon it by taxpayers. Then I looked at the study.
Although you wouldn't know from the radio report which, by mentioning only European survival rates, gave the impression that the table was topped by European countries, our friends at the BBC had neglected to give the full picture. Let's illustrate with a couple of representative paragraphs from the online version of this story on the BBC website:
"For women, Sweden and Iceland were top on 62% with Wales, England and Northern Ireland just below the European average of 56%, while Scotland was among the worse on 48%"
So, according the BBC, the key bits of the table looks like this:
Sweden 60.3%
Wales 47.9%
England 44.8%
N. Ireland 42%
Scotland 40.2%
But as be seen from the Telegraph story on the same report, the BBC has missed out a bit at the top:
United States 66.3%
Sweden 60.3%
Simple error of omission? I think not. How embarrassing it would be for the socialised, tax-funded BBC to admit that the great satan's evil private healthcare system is the best bet for cancer survival?
As with so much that comes from the BBC, if it doesn't fit the narrative, it doesn't get reported.
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