Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the ambition in the NHS Long Term Plan which states that "by 2028, the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 will rise from around half now to three-quarters of cancer patients", when they will commence Phase 2 to include a wider range of tests that will involve dialogues with (1) GPs, (2) Integrated Care Boards, and (3) key stakeholders.

While there are no plans to add a specific second phase, we are committed to the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambition of diagnosing 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028.

Patients will benefit from earlier diagnostic tests closer to home, with 91 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) already up and running. Investment in up to 160 CDCs will deliver up to 17 million tests by March 2025. As of November 2022, existing CDCs have delivered more than 2.4 million additional checks.

In addition, the NHS-Galleri trial is currently evaluating a test for blood to identify cancer risk, which can detect signs of more than 50 different cancers, including those where no screening programmes currently exist. The trial has recruited the target of 140,000 participants and interim results are expected in late 2023. If successful, the NHS has committed to deploying one million Galleri tests in 2024 and 2025. The clinical trial is currently planned to conclude in 2025.