Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to increase public awareness of the symptoms of (a) pancreatic and (b) other less survivable cancers.
Public Health England (PHE) has run several ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ (BCOC) campaigns to help improve early detection of cancer. These campaigns can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/be-clear-on-cancer/
Several factors are considered when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis. This can only be effective through broad awareness campaigns if the cancer has a high enough incidence to be able to impact upon through marketing campaigns, as well as a clear early sign or symptom that the public can act upon should it arise.
In 2017, PHE also ran a pilot campaign in the East and West Midlands which focussed on a range of abdominal symptoms, such as diarrhoea, bloating and discomfort that can be indicative of several cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Further information on the pilot is available at the following link:
PHE is currently undertaking new data analysis and research to determine the future direction of BCOC activity.