Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for developing a best practice timed pathway for leukaemia.

NHS England has implemented non symptom specific pathways (NSS) for patients who present with non-specific symptoms or combinations thereof that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. As of December 2023, there are 113 NSS pathways already live, an increase from 12 live Rapid Diagnostic Centre pathways in March 2020, with over 5,500 patients seen per month and a total of over 100,000 referrals since May 2020.

Raising awareness, delivering more research, and improving early diagnosis of cancers, which includes blood related cancers such as leukaemia, are crucial for improving survival rates and are key priorities for the Government.

NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, including leukaemia, to improve early diagnosis. In January 2024, NHS England relaunched their ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers. The campaign aims to reduce barriers to seeking earlier help, as well as to increase body awareness and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This relaunch follows NHS England’s launch of their original ‘Help Us Help You’ campaigns in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they needed it.

Delivering more research is key to understanding the causes of cancers and increasing survival rates of all cancers, including leukaemia, further. That is why investment in research and innovation is a priority for the Government. Our world-leading scientists and clinicians are driving the discovery, development, and testing of new treatments. The Department invested almost £122 million into cancer research in 2022/23 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In addition, alongside Cancer Research UK, health departments across the United Kingdom are jointly funding a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs), collectively investing more than £35 million between 2017 and 2022. The network of 17 adult and 12 paediatric ECMCs enhances the existing bench-to-bedside pathway by supporting the most promising innovations from the academic and industry sectors into the cancer medicines of tomorrow.

More broadly, the National Health Service is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. To support early diagnosis, the Government has invested £2.3 billion into community diagnostic centres across England which are speeding up diagnosis for cancer, with checks and scans being delivered at 160 sites across England. Cancer is also one of six major conditions included in our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy.

With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.