Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing an optimal care pathway for pancreatic cancer.

The Department does not currently have plans to make an assessment as NHS England already has work in place to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care of those with pancreatic cancer. NHS England’s ‘Getting it Right First Time’ (GIRFT) programme has appointed a team of five specialist clinicians to lead a national review into services for pancreatic cancer patients in England.

The new workstream supports the delivery of the Optimal Care Pathway, a Pancreatic Cancer UK-led initiative which has brought together 300 health professionals and people affected to agree on how standards of diagnosis, treatment and care of those with pancreatic cancer and their families can be improved.