More people are dying from cancer in Brighton and Hove than the national average.
The numbers have been rising even though the wider national rate is steady.
A report to the Brighton and Hove Health and Wellbeing Board said: “Around 1,100 people in the city are diagnosed with cancer each year.
“The most common cancer in females is breast cancer and in males prostate cancer.
“The second and third most common cancers in both females and males are lung and colorectal cancer.
“Cancer is the main cause of death within the city.
“In 2012 it was responsible for 31 per cent (666) of all deaths and 41 per cent (288) of all premature deaths.”
Premature deaths referred to people under 75 years old.
The report said: “Lung cancer is responsible for the highest percentage of deaths (22 per cent for all ages and 28 per cent for under 75s), followed by colorectal cancer … and breast cancer.”
Peter Wilkinson said: “Historically in Brighton and Hove we haven’t been very good at diagnosing cancer early.”
He said good early diagnosis rates relied not just on doctors but on patients going to the doctor when they had symptoms.
Dr Wilkinson said that screening had a part to play and that take-up rates locally were worse than the national average.
Councillor Warren Morgan, leader of the opposition Labour group on Brighton and Hove City Council, said that the figures “painted an alarming picture of how we are performing locally”.
He called for a breakdown of performance by GP surgery because he was concerned about the difference between the poorer parts of Brighton and Hove and better off areas.
Green councillor Rob Jarrett said: “We need to rethink how we improve early detection.
“We need more than just a slight improvement.
“More of the same isn’t going to get us very far. We need to do something to improve our way of communicating.
“We need to think of high-impact initiatives.”
Woodingdean GP Darren Emilianus said: “We’ve got to make it easier for patients to live healthily – nutrition and exercise – as well as to get through the system more efficiently.”
