Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the role of early detection in improving outcomes for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government. In October 2018, the Prime Minister announced our ambitions to see 55,000 more people surviving cancer for five years in England each year from 2028 and three quarters of all cancers detected at an early stage by 2028. To achieve these targets, we will need to make significant progress on survival across all cancers, including pancreatic cancer. The announcement included the roll out of rapid diagnostic centres across the country to offer patients a range of tests in the same day with rapid access to results. These will be modelled on existing pilots and will mean fewer visits to general practitioners and hospitals, and faster referrals. NHS England will shortly be introducing a Faster Diagnostic Standard of 28 days for all cancer patients which, when taken together with the 62-day referral to treatment standard, will mean that all patients should expect to start their treatment within 34 days of diagnosis. This is a maximum, and trusts should continue to treat patients more quickly particularly where there is a strong clinical need.