Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England collects data on avoidable delays in the diagnosis of leukaemia.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service diagnoses cancer earlier and treats it faster so that more patients, including those with leukaemia, survive.

The National Disease Registration Service collects information on how many people in England are diagnosed with or treated for cancer. Blood cancer is included as a distinct category, labelled haematological neoplasms, which is available at the following link:

https://nhsd-ndrs.shinyapps.io/incidence_and_mortality/

This creates a clinically rich data resource that is used to measure diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for patients diagnosed with cancer.

The 28-day faster diagnosis standard is a performance standard that aims to have a patient diagnosed or cancer ruled out within 28-days from referral. This performance metric monitors diagnostic performance and delays in diagnosis across cancer types, including leukaemia. It is published monthly and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/

The NHS is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for leukaemia. We will improve cancer survival rates and hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets, so no patient waits longer than they should.

To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers, like leukaemia, are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

To diagnose blood cancer earlier and treat it faster, we will support the NHS to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in diagnostic capacity.