Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis rates for (a) leukaemia and (b) other non-stageable cancers; and whether he plans to introduce measures in the National Cancer Strategy to track progress on those rates.

We are determined to take all the necessary steps to improve early diagnosis for all cancers, including leukaemia and other non-stageable cancers. To accomplish this, the National Health Service is implementing non symptom specific pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms or combinations thereof that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. NHS England’s national evaluation showed that blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, including diagnosis. We are currently exploring interventions to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer and on 4 February we launched a Call for Evidence, in which the views of people across the country will inform our plan to improve cancer care. Those who wish to share their views can do so on the new online platform, via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan