The cost of caring for inpatients with breast and prostate cancer in England will surge by a 20% in a decade, hitting at least £790million a year by 2020.
According to Macmillan Cancer Support, this comes at a time when the number of people expected to get cancer in their lifetime is set to increase to almost one in two by 2020.
Inpatient costs for breast cancer in England are projected to rise by £87million between 2010 and 20203. For prostate cancer, the costs are predicted to increase by £44million.
Together these cancers account for almost a third (28%) of all new cases diagnosed each year in the UK and represent just part of the overall cost of inpatient care for cancer patients.
The charity said the rise in costs is being driven mainly by the increasing numbers of people getting and surviving cancer, many of whom may need treatment for other health complications.
Ciarán Devane, Chief Executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "This research reveals just the tip of the iceberg of the total cost of treating the growing number of people living with cancer in the UK. It's time for radical action.
"Macmillan's work will become more vital than ever, but we cannot solve the problem alone. The way cancer services are delivered in the UK needs to be redesigned now by rolling out pilot programmes that have successfully coordinated health and social care and reduced the overall cost.
"This would deliver better care for people with cancer and would be cheaper for the NHS."
There were over 330,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in the UK in 2011, 28% were new cases of breast or prostate cancer.
