“CRIPPLING” understaffing in the NHS has meant that over 100,000 cancer sufferers have missed out on an early diagnosis in a single year, Cancer Research UK has warned.

A new report from the charity shows that about 115,000 patients in England were diagnosed with stage three or four cancer in 2017.

The statistic was obtained from Public Health England, but the true figure could be higher, as there are no records of what cancer diagnosis 19 per cent of patients received.