SUNBATHERS are being urged to cover up once the summer finally arrives after the number of skin cancer patients in the county shot up by 20 per cent in six years.

New figures show the number of patients being treated for the disease in Oxfordshire has risen from 2,793 in 2009 to 3,374 last year – hitting a peak of 3,392 in 2013.

It has prompted a skin cancer survivor and a hospital consultant to urge people to cover up or use suncream to avoid being at risk of potentially fatal melanoma.

Mum-of-two Rachael Willoughby was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2010 after noticing a new mole appear on her ankle.

The 38-year-old said she had originally told her GP about the new blemish in 2006, but was told not worry.

But when she went again four years later the doctor noticed the mole had grown and she was referred to hospital for treatment and had to have an operation and skin graft to remove it.

The school health nurse assistant from Bicester believes the cancer came from overexposure to the sun as a child and is urging parents to make sure their children do not get burned this summer.

She added: "As a mum it's drilled into you to use suncream.

"But everyone thinks it's never going to happen to them.

"You would not give your child a cigarette so why are people not concerned about them getting sunburned?"

Nationally the rate of melanoma – when moles become cancerous due to exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays – has gone up by 360 per cent since the 1970s according to Cancer Research UK and in Oxfordshire it has risen 300 per cent from 126 in 2002 to 508 last year.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust dermatology consultant Dr Richard Turner warned the number of patients with skin cancer will continue to increase.

He said because the cancers can take decades to develop, children who were burnt 20 to 30 years ago are still at risk of developing the diseases as they now enter their 30s and 40s.

Dr Turner added: "Have we got over the peak yet? No, I think it will continue to rise for the moment.

"We would like to think the message to use sun protection is getting through.

"I suspect in another 10 to 15 years we will start to see the benefit of peoples' changing behaviour but I don't think we have topped yet."

As well as melanoma there are two other types of skin cancer: squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

BCC is usually slow-growing, does not spread to other parts of the body and can be easily treated. SCC can spread to other parts of the body and therefore is potentially lethal, but can also be easily treated.

Dr Turner said the majority of patients who come in with suspected skin cancers are diagnosed, treated and cured the same day, with only 15 per cent having to wait for further care.

He believes the rising tide of the disease was fuelled by package holidays taking off in the 1960s and 1970s.

Dr Turner urged parents to cover their children up using hats or long-sleeved tops and use factor 20 to 30 suncream, but added: "The most important message is keep healthy on the inside, but also on the outside.

"This shouldn't discourage people from getting out and doing the activities and exercise they would do.

"Your chance of dying from skin cancer is pretty small."