Cancer: Diagnosis

(asked on 6th September 2021) - View Source

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 progress made towards delivering the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to diagnose three-quarters of cancers at an early stage by 2028.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 27th October 2021

The most recent data from Quarter 1 2019 shows that 54.8% of cancers were diagnosed at Stages 1 or 2. Due to the effect of the pandemic on data collection, the Department has reviewed progress on individual initiatives contributing to achieving the overall ambition. This includes increased investment in public awareness with the ‘Help us help you’ campaign. Screening has been extended in various areas to support the NHS Long Term Plan target, such as the extension of the bowel cancer screening programme to people aged over 50 years old and launching targeted lung health checks. We have also invested in rapid diagnostic centre (RDC) pathways to accelerate diagnosis. As of summer 2021, there were 102 live RDC pathways across hospitals in England, with a further 98 pathways in development. This is an increase from 12 RDC pathways in March 2020.

Reticulating Splines