Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England will include (a) targets to improve the early diagnosis of (i) myeloma and (ii) other blood cancers, and steps to (b) reduce the number of GP visits prior to diagnosis and (c) the proportion of patients diagnosed via emergency departments.

Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes.

To tackle the late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.  The Plan will be published in early 2026.