Bile Duct Cancer: Thames Valley
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with NHS England to help improve (a) early diagnosis rates of and (b) access to treatments for cholangiocarcinoma in the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire Integrated Care Board area.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Improving diagnosis rates and access to treatment are key priorities for the Government for all cancer types, including cholangiocarcinoma.
To achieve this, we are improving public awareness of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlining referral routes, and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres. We will continue to prioritise and improve early cancer diagnosis, including for cholangiocarcinoma, by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and better access to treatment.
Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and improving access to treatment.
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