Despite showing early signs of cancer, many were told there was nothing to fear and were sent home armed with advice to only take painkillers or antibiotics.

The study, published by the Rarer Cancers Foundation, concluded that a quarter of patients were only diagnosed once the disease had spread to other organs, by which time it was often terminal. Many patients told researchers how their symptoms were misinterpreted by GPs and were dismissed as minor.

Experts blamed late diagnosis for what was described as high death rates and say many tumours were spotted too late for treatment. Figures show that Britain has one of the lowest cancer survival rates in Europe despite billions of pounds in treatment investment.

The Office for National Statistics recently found that the cancer death rate among British women was higher than in countries such as France, Italy and Portugal