Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department is taking to improve early identification and monitoring of precursor conditions for blood cancer, such as MGUS and smoldering myeloma.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose blood cancer and precursor conditions as quickly as possible and to treat them faster, to improve outcomes.

To improve diagnoses of blood cancers and precursor conditions, the NHS is implementing 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. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, ensuring more patients benefit from quicker access to the right investigations.

The Government will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

The National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year, will include further details on how the NHS will improve outcomes for all 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.