Our response
We believe the National Cancer Plan presents a significant opportunity to set a clear central strategic vision for cancer, with rare and less survivable cancers at the centre of this.
Let’s make pancreatic cancer a priority in the new National Cancer Plan
For years, we’ve campaigned for pancreatic cancer to be prioritised in Government plans in England. Our Senior Campaigns Manager Johanna Taylor explains how, with your help, we could now finally achieve this.
It’s 2025. Yet still, four in five people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed too late for potentially lifesaving treatment. And half of people with pancreatic cancer die within three months of diagnosis.
Survival rates for other common cancers have improved dramatically in recent years. But decades of underfunding mean we still don’t have the rapid tests and treatments to tackle pancreatic cancer.
Now, we have a concrete opportunity to change this: the new UK Government is putting together its Cancer Plan for England.
Read our full submission to the Cancer Plan consultation
We are raising our voices louder than ever before to make sure that pancreatic cancer finally gets the attention it deserves in this plan.
Thank you to over 100 of our incredible supporters who let us know they responded to the Government’s consultation survey on the plan which closed at the end of April.
What will the new cancer plan do?
The Government has laid out an ambition to reform the NHS in England, and as part of this, it will put forward a new cancer plan with the aim of reducing the number of lives lost to cancer over the next decade.
The cancer plan will include plans to improve the whole cancer pathway and will focus on prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, living with and beyond cancer, and research and development.
A new cancer plan has been desperately needed for years to drive progress on pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers which, unacceptably, have been left behind. The Government’s plan must reject the historic nihilism surrounding pancreatic cancer and take specific actions to improve survival
Why do we need to act now?
Following years of campaigning together, pancreatic cancer is higher on the agenda than ever before. It was highlighted in the General Election manifestos of two major political parties. We received backing from the NHS on a new pancreatic cancer early detection tool, the Family History Checker. And we’ve secured the support of hundreds of MPs who are standing with us to demand better.
We can’t stop now.
We now need to convince the government to take the next important step – and make a commitment to improving outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer and the other less survivable cancers in its new Cancer Plan.
Such a commitment would represent a huge milestone for this overlooked cancer and could finally transform outcomes for pancreatic cancer over the next decade.
Together, let’s make 2025 the year that pancreatic cancer and the other less survivable cancers are finally prioritised in England.
In 2023 we joined forces with 60 other charities, as part of the One Cancer Voice coalition, to demand a dedicated cancer plan for England. More than 76,000 people, including thousands of our supporters, signed our petition calling for an ambitious plan for cancer. Now we need pancreatic cancer to be a priority in the Government's new National Cancer Plan.
Our supporter, Rebecca Buggs, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, represented Pancreatic Cancer UK and handed in our One Cancer Voice petition at No 10 Downing Street
