Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help reduce rates of liver cancer in the UK.

The Department is supporting the National Health Service to reduce rates of liver cancer in England through NHS England providing support to the NHS to help patients live healthier lives, improve early diagnosis, and develop new treatments.

Improving early cancer diagnosis is a priority. The NHS is working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028, meaning 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer at least five years after diagnosis. To deliver this, the Department is driving faster roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, establishing 123 community diagnostic centres (CDCs), with capacity prioritised for cancer. NHS cancer standards will also be reformed with the support of clinicians to speed up diagnosis for patients. In addition, the NHS-Galleri Trial is looking into the use of a new blood test to see if it can help the NHS to detect cancer early when used alongside existing cancer screening, including liver cancers.

The NHS’s Core20PLUS5 programme is a national intervention which aims to provide the best treatment and care for patients and tackling health disparities. The Government’s Major Conditions Strategy, focused on six major groups of conditions, including cancers, will apply a geographical lens to address regional disparities in health outcomes and improve healthy life expectancy.

The Department has also committed support to the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, which targets cancers with stubbornly poor survival rates. This partnership focuses on liver, pancreas, lung, brain, oesophagus and stomach cancers, raising awareness of these less survivable cancers so more people understand their symptoms and go to see their GP if they have concerns.