Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to provide early diagnosis and treatment for patients with Barrett's oesophagus.

Our Be Clear on Cancer campaigns aim to raise awareness of the possible symptoms of cancer and to prompt people with the relevant symptoms to present to their general practitioner (GP). Following a local pilot which ran from April to July 2012, we ran a regional Be Clear on Cancer pilot campaign in February and March 2014, raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of oesophago-gastric cancer in the North East and North Cumbria. This early diagnosis campaign also aimed to identify patients with Barrett's oesophagus, a precursor to oesophageal cancer.

The campaign included television, radio, press and outdoor advertising. The findings of this pilot will be evaluated by Public Health England (PHE), who works closely with the Department and NHS England to ensure that health care professionals are targeted with campaign information to encourage earlier diagnoses and referrals, before a decision is taken on whether to roll out the campaign nationally.

Alongside supporting PHE to increase symptom awareness amongst the general population, NHS England are also working to increase cancer symptom awareness amongst healthcare professionals, and to provide support to GPs in early diagnosis of cancer and pre-cancerous conditions. In 2013-14, NHS England made £2.3 million available to support improved symptom awareness and early diagnosis.