Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve pancreatic cancer survival rates.

Services for pancreatic cancer have been significantly strengthened within the National Health Service in recent years. This includes clearer diagnostic pathways; decision making by specialist multi-disciplinary teams; and centralisation of pancreas surgery within specialist teams.

However, we know more needs to be done. The Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving World-Class Outcomes a Cancer Strategy for England 2015 – 2020, notes that whilst survival to date has improved significantly for some cancers, it has remained stubbornly low for other cancers, including pancreatic cancer.

The strategy makes recommendations for speeding up diagnosis of cancers with non-specific but concerning symptoms through the use of a multidisciplinary diagnostic centre. In terms of delivery, NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director. She will lead on implementation; as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience. She has set up a new Cancer Transformation Board to implement the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January. There will also be a Cancer Advisory group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board.

In addition, NHS England has a published a service specification for pancreatic cancer which clearly defines what it expects to be in place for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective pancreatic cancer services. This service specification has been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe core and developmental service standards.

The full service specification can be found at:

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a02-cncr-panc.pdf

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published updated guideline, Suspected cancer: recognition and referral, in June 2015, to ensure that it reflects latest evidence and can continue to support general practitioner’s (GPs) to identify patients, including children & young people and urgently refer them as appropriate. NICE noted that 5,000 more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourage GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold.