Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the NHS Long Term Plan milestone of diagnosing 75% of cancers at an early stage by 2028.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for the National Health Service.

The NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single ‘urgent cancer’ referral pathway, as defined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidance NG12, but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. 99 NSS pathways are currently operational across England, with more in development.

To encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer, NHS England is running the ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaigns, which seeks to address the barriers that are deterring patients from accessing the NHS.