Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 help improve the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Birmingham.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients presenting with vague and non-site specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type, which may include pancreatic cancer. There are currently 96 NSS pathways in operation in England, which will support the NHS to meet the new Faster Diagnosis Standard for all patients referred for the investigation of suspected cancer to receive an outcome within 28 days.
Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) is ensuring all urgent cancer referral pathways are aligned with national recommendations. It has implemented a new two week wait urgent cancer referral form for upper gastro-intestinal services, which directs patients to diagnostic tests where appropriate. The ICB has increased straight to test endoscopy and imaging capacity to ensure rapid diagnoses and introduced a diagnostic pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to raise awareness of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign seeks to address the barriers which may deter patients from seeking advice for potential symptoms of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer. A campaign focusing on abdominal and urological symptoms launched on 31 October 2022 and addresses symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 support the development of novel methods for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out the ambition for 75% of cancers to be diagnosed at stage one or two by 2028. A recent ‘Help Us Help You’ campaign focused on the barriers to earlier presentation in all cancer types, which has led to a 1600% increase in visits to advice on cancer symptoms at NHS.UK.
The National Health Service is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients presenting with symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type, with 96 pathways currently operational in England. These pathways will support the NHS to meet the new Faster Diagnosis Standard which will ensure all patients referred for the investigation of suspected cancer receive an outcome within 28 days.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans she has to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with a less survivable cancer in Slough constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance is working with the Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care System to improve the outcomes for all patients diagnosed with cancer in the Slough area. It is raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer, with a focus on pancreatic cancer and supporting an increased uptake of cancer screening programmes. This now includes the Targeted Lung Health Check programme, which is soon to be deployed in Slough.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) identification and (b) treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are accelerating access to cancer diagnosis and treatment, through non-symptom specific pathways and the new Faster Diagnosis Standard. In addition, we are investing £2.3 billion in community diagnostic centres and endoscopy services in the next three years, to improve the diagnosis and the detection of cancers, including pancreatic cancer.
The current ‘Help us help you’ campaign focuses on the barriers to earlier presentation across all cancer types. A further campaign is planned later in 2022 to address abdominal and urological symptoms, which can include symptoms relevant to pancreatic cancer.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned a new audit of pancreatic cancer services to support the National Health Service to identify and address variation in access to treatment. NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with Pancreatic Cancer UK to raise awareness of Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy and shared guidance with Cancer Alliances.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of south Asians in the UK who (a) contract oral cancer and (b) die as a result of using chewed tobacco.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have no plans to make a specific estimate or conduct a formal assessment. While comparative data on the incidence of oral cancers in Asian and Asian British people in relation to other ethnic groups in the adult population is collected, this does not specifically record cases in south Asians.
Chewed tobacco products are harmful to health and can cause various cancers, including oral, oesophageal and pancreatic cancers. It remains the Government’s policy to assist people to quit all forms of tobacco use through behavioural support from stop smoking services, nicotine replacement therapy or e-cigarettes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on introducing DNA tests for the detection of cancers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are exploring a number of promising genetic tests which may support early detection of cancer and continue to monitor the evolution and development of new technologies. NHS England and NHS Improvement have agreed a partnership with GRAIL to test and accelerate its Galleri test into widespread usage across the NHS. The trial is currently in its first stage. If the initial phase of this trial meets specific interim goals identified in advance, the NHS will expand the trial to one million tests in 2024 and 2025. The NHS Cancer Programme’s innovation open call is supporting a small-scale project using the Guardant liquid biopsy to support diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
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 include pancreatic cancer in the 10-Year Cancer Plan for England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft) on 24 May 2022 to Question 3800.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year Cancer Plan will include a strategy to improve pancreatic cancer survival rates; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure improved survival rates from pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft MP) on 24 May 2022 to Question 3800.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to improve the survival rates of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; and whether those steps will be included in the upcoming 10-Year Cancer Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned an audit into pancreatic cancer and continue to work with Pancreatic Cancer UK to raise awareness of Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy and share guidance with Cancer Alliances.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are deploying non-symptom specific pathways and the new faster diagnosis standard and investing £325 million in new diagnostic equipment, which will improve early diagnosis and detection of pancreatic cancer. Officials are currently analysing the responses received in the call for evidence to develop the 10 Year Cancer Plan. The Plan will address all cancer types, including rarer and less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer.