Leukaemia is particularly challenging to diagnose and treat and early diagnosis, so key to successful treatment, is often difficult due to the vague and unclear nature of symptoms. I fully sympathise with those affected by any form of blood cancer and recognise the profound impact of these diseases on individuals and their loved ones.
I am determined to support constituents in calling for an increase in positive outcomes for all cancer types, including blood cancers. It was one of the top priorities we had in government, and we continued to take steps to reduce waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment across England, including the time between an urgent general practice referral and the commencement of treatment for cancer for patients.
While it is encouraging that leukaemia survival rates have more than quadrupled in the last 40 years, with, on average, over 4,000 deaths from leukaemia each year across the UK, improving procedures to help treat this disease remains imperative. I am grateful measures taken by the previous Government ensure this trend will continue.
I thank Blood Cancer UK for their powerful report, and the continuing challenge to Government, NHS and other agencies to take actions that will speed up diagnosis, deliver better care, improve access to clinical trials and treatment, and increase the workforce treating blood cancers.
Over recent years, it has been promising to see improvements in survival for some blood cancers – including chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) at 85 per cent - but action is clearly needed to drive better outcomes for people living with other blood cancers such as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) myeloma. I am also concerned that five-year survival for blood cancer in the UK currently lags behind similar nations.
As part of the 10-Year Plan for the NHS, the new Labour Government must set out a clear strategy and goals for improving the diagnosis, treatment and survival for all cancers, including blood cancers. The Government must also set out how it will meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which aims to ensure patients are diagnosed with cancer or have it ruled out within 28 days of referral from a general practice (GP) or screening services.
For many of my colleagues, the centralisation of specialist services has led to better outcomes, but often means people in more rural areas like my constituency often face significant travel distances to access treatment. I am happy to work with patient groups like Blood Cancer UK, Leukaemia Care or Leukaemia UK to better understand barriers to blood cancer patients accessing care and would value insight into issues in my local area.
I note Blood Cancer UK’s campaign to seek a reduction in diagnosis delays through new measuring processes and improved GP support. Since 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has guided GPs to consider an urgent full blood count within 48 hours should adults present with certain symptoms. The last Government also created 160 new community diagnosis centres (CDCs), providing scans and cancer checks.
Please be assured that we continue to support our ambition of diagnosing 75 per cent of cancers at stage one and two by 2028 which was established in the NHS Long Term Plan. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
Delivering more research is key to understanding the causes of cancers and increasing survival rates of all cancers further. We invested almost £122 million into cancer research in 2022-23 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In addition, alongside Cancer Research UK, health departments across the United Kingdom are jointly funding a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, collectively investing more than £35 million between 2017 and 2022.
I fully recognise the challenges of recruiting patients to clinical trials following the pandemic and issues patients with blood cancers face with accessing NHS-approved drugs. At the recent election, I stood on a manifesto that committed to reducing obstacles to the use of new treatments in the NHS like the NHS Budget Impact Test. I believe it is important the new Government continues work to implement the headline commitments of the O’Shaughnessy Review into commercial clinical trials.
We know there is more work to be done and, through improved diagnosis and early detection, novel treatments and research, I hope that patients with these conditions in the future have the best possible diagnosis, treatment, and care. I also welcome campaigns and opportunities to raise awareness to improve early diagnosis like the NHS England ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers.
