Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said the figures showed the NHS was ‘moving in the right direction'.

Prof Johnson added: ‘NHS teams across the country are taking tests and checks closer to the people who need them, and with new treatments being developed all the time, we will continue to do all we can to get people seen and treated for cancer as early as possible.'

The latest statistics show there was a total of 373,574 new cancer diagnosis in 2024, 11,833 more diagnosis than in 2023.

Prostate remained the most diagnosed cancer with 61,115 new diagnoses in 2024 - 2,394 (4.1%) more than in 2023.

In total, there were 616,404 cancers (including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of skin) in 2024.

The six most common cancer groups are skin, prostate, breast, lung, bowel and blood.

Excluding basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of skin, half of all registered cancer diagnoses (50%) continue to be found in four main cancer groups: prostate, breast, lung, or bowel.