Cancer: Diagnosis

General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.

All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.

The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.

Improving diagnosis rates and access to treatment are key priorities for the Government for all cancer types, including rare and less common cancers.

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 are also investing an additional £889 million in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

We are committed to ensuring that GPs have the right training and systems to identify cancer. Use of specific clinical decision support tools are agreed at a local level.

The recently announced National Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve diagnosis, including for rare and less common cancers. The plan will also provide further details on how we will ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.