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 help increase early diagnosis for blood cancer.

The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer, including blood cancers, as early and fast as possible.

To increase early diagnosis of blood cancer, the NHS has implemented non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type such as blood cancer. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.