What the National Cancer Plan means for people with pancreatic cancer

Thanks to your support, our voices have now been heard.

Pancreatic cancer will no longer be overlooked and will finally get the attention it desperately needs.

Our Senior Policy Manager, Peter De Rosa, shares our analysis on what’s in the National Cancer Plan, what this means for people affected by pancreatic cancer and how you have supported us to make this happen.  

Dedicated focus on  less survivable cancers:  

For the first time, the Cancer Plan has made the less survivable cancers like pancreatic cancer a priority.

The Plan has a bold new ambition for survival for these cancers to be amongst the best in the world by 2035 – which would double five-year survival for pancreatic cancer. The targets are ambitious, credible, and, if achieved, have the potential to give people with pancreatic cancer a real chance to live long and well.

This is first time that the Department for Health and Social Care have acknowledged that first addressing cancers with the lowest survival outcomes – such as pancreatic cancer – is essential to improve overall cancer outcomes.

New standards for pancreatic cancer care:

The Cancer Plan will also address the postcode lottery of care that people with pancreatic cancer often experience. This will be achieved through developing new, better, national standards for care across the whole cancer journey – starting with cancers with the poorest outcomes like pancreatic cancer. 

This was a key call from our recent campaign to ensure a faster, fairer treatment and care journey is available to everyone affected by pancreatic cancer. It is crucial now that the Government prioritises pancreatic cancer as the first cancer type for these new national standards.  

Transforming research:  

Within the next decade, this Cancer Plan will tackle pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers head-on through driving new research breakthroughs. This will be achieved through increasing research investment and ensuring these cancers are prioritised within research. 

The Cancer Plan also supports the new Rare Cancers Bill that we have championed through Parliament. This will ensure that patients can rapidly access clinical trials and that there’s a named lead in government with a responsibility to support research and innovation for these cancers. The Cancer Plan will also ensure new medicines and technology can be developed and rolled out in the NHS faster. 

This will help ensure new technology can benefit patients faster including the world-first breath test for pancreatic cancer, which we are proud to be funding.  

How have you helped achieve this? 

This is the result of a decade of campaigning by supporters like you. Hundreds of thousands of you. You’ve stood with us, signed petitions, met MPs and shared your experiences.

Your support for our campaigns has raised pancreatic cancer up the political agenda and inspired thousands to add their voice to ours. Together we’ve made the case for action on the deadliest common cancer too loudly to be ignored.

What about the other UK nations? 

Many of the commitments within the Cancer Plan cover the whole of the UK, including the new commitments on research. However, most decisions about cancer care are the responsibility for devolved UK governments.

We will continue to push for change across all nations in the UK. Right now, we’re actively working with decision makers in Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure pancreatic cancer is at the forefront of the implementation of their cancer strategies. In Wales we’re calling for whoever forms the next government in the upcoming May elections to commit to a Cancer Strategy.