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Written question asked by Stuart Andrew (Conservative) on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 December 2025. It was answered by Ashley Dalton (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 January 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Leukaemia: Diagnosis

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the time taken for leukaemia diagnosis; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of Leukaemia UK’s Count Us In campaign.

Answer

The National Cancer Plan will seek to improve outcomes for all cancers, including non-stageable cancers such as leukaemia. The Department remains committed to the early diagnosis of cancer and to improving outcomes for patients. However, we recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that patients with harder to stage cancers, such as blood cancer, receive fast and early diagnoses.

The National Health Service 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 have engaged extensively with Cancer 52 and other cancer charities, including Leukaemia UK to inform development of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published shortly. We have listened to concerns about existing early diagnosis targets and considered the feasibility of adopting new metrics to track progress, including suggestions from stakeholders that we track emergency presentation. Further details on our approach to early diagnosis, including how we can improve outcomes for rarer cancers, will be set out in due course.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
100357
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Diagnosis Standards Leukaemia Leukaemia UK
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk