Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will fund specialist pancreatic cancer roles in every Cancer Alliance.

There are no plans to fund specialist pancreatic cancer roles in every Cancer Alliance.

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose due to its unspecific symptoms. NHS England plans to streamline cancer pathways to support diagnosis within 28 days by implementing non-symptom specific (NSS) pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms that can indicate several cancers, as well as implementing timed cancer pathways.

Since 2019, Cancer Alliances have been developing new dedicated urgent diagnostic pathways for these patients so that every cancer patient with concerning, but non-specific symptoms gets the right tests at the right time in as few visits as possible. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Planning Guidance.