North Kent has one of the worst rates of early bowel cancer diagnosis in the country.
Just 34 per cent of bowel cancer patients in Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley are diagnosed before the cancer has spread, figures released by Beating Bowel Cancer show.
This is the fifth lowest rate in the country with only Nottingham City, Wandsworth, Wirral and East Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs showing lower rates.
Wandsworth is the lowest at 30 per cent.
Lewisham's rate of early diagnosis is 34 per cent, Bexley's falls at 39 per cent, 43 per cent of patients are diagnosed early in Greenwich and 46 per cent in Bromely.
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If the cancer is detected at the earliest possible stage, people have a 97 per cent chance of surviving for another five years, compared with just seven per cent at its most advanced stages.
About 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK and about 16,000 die of the disease.
Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: "It’s unacceptable that there are CCGs in England that diagnose fewer than one in three patients at an early stage.
"This will require further improvements in screening, renewed efforts to raise awareness of symptoms, and investment to support improvements in GP performance in investigating and referring patients appropriately."
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