Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce regional disparities in the early diagnosis of liver (a) disease and (b) cancer; and if he will provide additional support to (a) the North West and (b) other high-incidence areas.

Early detection of liver disease and cancer is vital to enable interventions and encourage behavioural change that can potentially lead to recovery. Except for liver transplant services, which are commissioned by NHS England, the commissioning of services for diagnosing, monitoring and treating liver disease is generally the responsibility of integrated care systems (ICS). ICSs are responsible for decisions on commissioning health services and reviewing those services to ensure they best meet the needs of their local population.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside was one of the first integrated care boards in the country to mandate and support the formation of a Clinical Liver Network to improve liver health outcomes across the system. To improve the diagnosis of previously undiagnosed liver disease in non-traditional healthcare settings there is also a Community Liver Health Checks programme. This programme targets people from the most disadvantaged communities and since its inception in April 2023, this programme has delivered 8,564 scans across more than 50 individual sites across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Reducing inequalities is a priority for the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which will look at the targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival and develop interventions to tackle these. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients, including those with liver cancer, and will highlight how the Department will support the National Health Service to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England. This includes looking at inequalities related to geographic location.

For the first time ever, cancer survival rates in Cheshire and Merseyside have risen above the all-England average. This is largely due to a combination of targeted work, and a step-change in access to early diagnosis supported by a growing network of community diagnostic centres.