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 support diagnosis and treatment for rare, less common and less survivable cancers, including gastric cancer.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including gastric cancers, is a priority, as reflected in the NHS Long Term Plan ambition. A Best Practice Timed Pathway for oesophago-gastric cancer has been produced and sets out how timely and effective care can be provided to patients presenting with oesophago-gastric cancer symptoms. The National Health Service is also implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single ‘urgent cancer’ referral pathway but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer.

NHS England has commissioned a clinical audit into oesophago-gastric cancer. The clinical audit provides regular and timely evidence for cancer service providers to understand where patterns of care in England vary, including access to precision oncology.

The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service in NHS England collects data on cancer patients but not in the format requested.