Cancer death rates in Tayside have gone up as the national figure falls, new NHS Scotland data shows.
Across Scotland the 2014 mortality rate calculated per 100,000 of the at-risk population fell from 291.3 to 289.9.
But nearly 1,300 people died from cancer across Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross last year, as the region saw its mortality rate rise from 297.7 to 308.6.
In Fife the rate has dipped below the national average for the first time since 2006.
Health Secretary Shona Robison welcomed the national drop of 11% in cancer deaths over the past decade but said there is “more work to be done”.
She added: “This reduction is due to improvements in early detection, through raised awareness and routine screening, as well as the development of more specialist care and effective treatments.”
There was a 6% decrease in cancer deaths among women, compared with a 15% drop in deaths among men.
Deaths due to breast cancer have dropped by 20% over the 10 years to 2014, while prostate cancer rates have decreased by 10% in the same period, the figures released yesterday revealed.
Meanwhile, it also emerged the number of people dying within 30 days of being admitted to hospital has fallen dramatically in both Tayside and Fife.
The nationwide level decreased by 15.7% between October and December 2007 and April and June 2015, official figures from ISD Scotland revealed.
By June 2015 NHS Fife’s figure had fallen by 22.6%, which made it the third best performing health board in the country.
Over the water NHS Tayside’s death toll had tumbled by 20.6%.
ISD Scotland’s report said: “Only two hospitals in Scotland exhibited an increasing trend in HSMR (hospital standardised mortality ratios) over time, namely the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.”