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 cancer diagnosis rates.

Early cancer diagnosis is a key priority for the Government, as the chances of survival are higher if cancer is diagnosed at an early stage.

The Department recognises that cancer patients are often waiting too long for referral and treatment. As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment, NHS England has delivered an extra 100,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration. This is supported by an increase in capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. The Government is investing an extra £26 billion in the National Health Service and is opening up community diagnostic centres at evening and weekends, to help diagnose cancer earlier.

In the new year we will publish a National Cancer Plan. The plan will include further details on how the Government will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as 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.