Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of primary care facilities for the diagnosis of stages of breast cancer.

The two most common routes through which breast cancer is diagnosed is following an urgent referral from a general practitioner, on the basis of signs and symptoms, or via breast screening, which happens in fixed or mobile breast screening units.

In March 2024, NHS England published guidance for local systems on implementing a timed breast cancer diagnostic pathway, setting out how diagnosis within 28-days can be achieved for the suspected breast cancer pathway.

Urgent referral pathways for people with breast symptoms who cannot be managed in primary care are also in place across England. While not on a suspected cancer pathway, these referrals should still be able to expect an outcome within 28 days of initial referral.

Since March 2024, NHS England has also been implementing breast pain pathways across England, with more than 60% of secondary care providers having established a live service. Breast pain on its own is not a sign of breast cancer. Introducing the breast pain pathways helps to ensure that patients who are at low risk of cancer receive rapid reassurance, and also helps to ensure that the urgent pathways are available for those who need them. Breast pain pathways are mainly managed within primary care or community diagnostic centres.