Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the levels of late diagnosis rates for people with pancreatic cancer in Surrey and Sussex; and what steps he is taking to ensure that people in those counties receive an earlier diagnosis for pancreatic cancer.

The latest NHS England data shows that the late diagnosis rates for pancreatic cancer in Surrey and Sussex increased between 2016 and 2017, from 78.2% to 81.9%.

Early diagnosis rates for pancreatic cancer in England increased by 2.9 percentage points between 2014 and 2017, from 21.0% to 23.9%, and improving early diagnosis of cancer is a top priority for the National Health Service. That is why of one of the core ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan is to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028 to save 55,000 lives a year. Cancer Alliances in England are using the Rapid Diagnostic Cancer model to improve the diagnostic experience for patients who are suspected of having particular cancers including pancreatic cancer.