PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(22 April 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of reducing the rate of emergency diagnosis on five-year survival rates for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Asked by:
Douglas McAllister (Labour)

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers such as acute myeloid leukaemia, as early and quickly as possible to improve outcomes.

To tackle late diagnoses of acute myeloid leukaemia, 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.

The NHS will diagnose acute myeloid leukaemia earlier and will treat it faster. In April 2026, the Department announced its plan to open four new community diagnostic centres during 2026/27. The Department also announced a further 32 centres, which will be expanded and enhanced. The 36 centres are backed by a £237 million Government investment.

To improve survival, the National Cancer Plan for England commits to reducing the number of rare cancers diagnosed in emergency settings, such as acute myeloid leukaemia. The Department and NHS England will address this by publishing regular data on the number of these cancers diagnosed in emergency settings, as a proxy for late or ineffective diagnosis. Adding this to the basket of early diagnosis metrics will help incentivise systems and providers to focus on earlier diagnosis of blood cancers.

Answered by:
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