Thank you for contacting me about Pancreatic Cancer’s No Time to Wait Campaign.

In February 2019 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published new clinical guideline on pancreatic cancer, providing guidance on diagnosis, monitoring those with an inherited high risk, as well as management of the disease. This guidance will ensure quicker and more accurate diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, as well as faster referral to pancreatic. There is also work underway to achieve early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer using biomarkers although this has not yet been extended into clinical practice.

Given the low survival rates for pancreatic cancer, research into new treatments and ways to diagnose this cancer early are vital. £882 million has been spent on cancer research since 2010 through the National Institute for Health Research, with annual spending on cancer research up by over £35 million since 2010. Charities have also made an indispensable contribution in driving forward research into cancer, with Cancer Research UK alone spending £27 million on pancreatic cancer over the last financial year.

These measures form just part of the NHS’s ambitious wider strategy to improve cancer outcomes and save 55,000 lives per year by 2028. The announcement of a £33.9 billion cash increase in the budget of NHS England will help the cancer strategy achieve this aim.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.