Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of pancreatic cancers were diagnosed at an early stage in the most recent year for which information is available.

Latest figures from NHS Digital for cancers diagnosed between January and December 2021 show that 25% of pancreatic cancers were diagnosed at Stage 1 and 2.

NHS England is developing new dedicated urgent diagnostic pathways for these patients so that every cancer patient with concerning, but non-specific symptoms, gets the right tests at the right time in as few visits as possible. There are now 113 of these pathways live, which are seeing more than 5,500 patients per month.

NHS England is also providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at high-risk due to family history or at-risk genetic mutations and have formed an expert group to consider a pathway for Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary cancers, including pancreatic cancer.

NHS England is funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022 and the first report is expected in October 2024. In addition to this, the Getting it Right First-Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight actions National Health Service providers need to take to improve services, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.