Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to monitor trends in the incidence and survival rates of primary liver cancer in England.

NHS England’s National Disease Registration Service collects and publishes cancer registration data, enabling trends in cancer incidence in England, including liver cancer, to be monitored. Cancer survival statistics are also used to monitor changes in outcomes over time.

The National Cancer Plan commits to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates, with a core priority of earlier detection, particularly for cancers like liver cancer that are often diagnosed too late. The Plan aims for three out of four people diagnosed with cancer to survive for five years or more by 2035.

Early diagnosis is critical to improved chances of survival, however existing evidence suggests only 50% of liver cancers are currently diagnosed at an early stage (1 or 2). Detecting liver cancer at an early stage is especially challenging as it is often asymptomatic. We will develop more proactive approaches to identifying people at risk, including symptomatic case finding, enhanced general practitioner support and genomic testing.

The Community Liver Health Checks programme will continue to offer FibroScans to people with cirrhosis and fatty liver disease, aiming to identify 4,000 individuals each year at high risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Those identified at high risk will be offered regular cancer checks, including ultrasound surveillance.