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 the reasons for a lower survival rate for colorectal cancer in the UK compared with the European average; and what steps she is taking to improve the five year relative survival rate for colorectal cancer.

No assessment has been made. However, the NHS Cancer Programme aims to improve cancer survival in all cancers to meet the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambition that by 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis.

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) aims to support earlier diagnosis of bowel cancers by finding cancer at an earlier stage or by detecting changes in the bowel which could lead to cancer if left untreated among people aged 60 to 74 years old. The BCSP invites approximately 4.5 million people to take part in screening each year and reduces the risk of dying from bowel cancer by 25% in those who participate. The NHS is currently expanding the bowel screening programme in England to offer the home testing faecal immunochemical test kit to 58 year-olds.

A recent National Health Service ‘Help us help you’ campaign focused on the barriers to earlier presentation in all cancer types and aimed to address some underlying challenges to earlier diagnosis. A campaign for abdominal and urological symptoms is planned later this year, which will address symptoms relevant to bowel cancer. The impact of Deborah James’ campaign also increased the number of visits to the NHS website’s bowel cancer symptoms page. A Best Practice Timed Pathway for suspected bowel cancer has been developed which outlines the timings of clinical steps in order to reach a diagnosis or rule out cancer within 28 days of referral.