Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of (a) NHS treatment standards and (b) the adequacy of survival rates for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Standards for service delivery covering both benign and malignant disease is set out in the

NHS England’s Hepato-Pancreatic Biliary (HPB) service specification.

With support and input from HPB cancer clinical experts and patient and public voice representatives, including Pancreatic Cancer UK, the service specification has recently been revised to reflect current care pathways and update references to national policy, guidance and guidelines, including guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The revised specification is expected to be in use across the National Health Service in England by April 2024.

Although no specific assessment has currently been made on the adequacy of the survival rates for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the Government is committed to diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 & 2 by 2028. This threshold is key to improving outcomes and survival rates, including for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.