The government’s wider mission to reduce deaths from the biggest killers includes cancer, and this was reinforced with the Darzi review. Diagnosing cancer at an early stage is key to improving survival and is one of five clinical priorities within the NHS’s Core20PLUS5 approach. This approach focuses on the action required to reduce health inequalities at both a national and system level and has set a national target that 75% of cancer cases are diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 by 2028.

The early diagnosis strategy as set by the NHS Cancer Programme has 6 pillars:

• Drive earlier presentation
• Maximise the reach of primary care
• Streamline referrals
• Develop targeted interventions
• Improve screening
• Harness innovation

There have been improvements in early diagnosis rates which are now 2.8% points above the pre-pandemic baseline. This is the first sustained rise in over a decade. Continuing to drive improvements in early diagnosis so that more people survive cancer therefore remains a priority in 2025-26 planning. There are five tumour-specific pathways we have been asked to make a priority which are:

• Lung
• Colorectal (Bowel)
• Breast
• Oesophageal
• Prostate

These plans will use data to assess the needs of our patients and will include a focus on locally based activities concentrating on:

• Timely presentation – deliver campaigns and community engagement activity to increase cancer symptom awareness and encourage patients to present earlier to their GP.
• Primary care – we will work with our colleagues in primary care to ensure there is consistent implementation of NICE guidelines across our footprint.
• Health inequalities
• New local innovation – we will identify, fund, support, and share learnings from real world implementation and evaluation of locally based innovations.
• Screening – we will work with our public health colleagues to increase the uptake and coverage of the NHS screening programmes and encourage the uptake of the HPV vaccination.

These projects will run alongside wider innovation and research activity, working together to shape interventions for the future.

Our local early diagnosis plans will:

• Set an annual target for increasing the early diagnosis rate for each region within our East Midlands footprint.
• Include a programme of activities which will address the specific priorities for each region which will be determined by the data we collect.
• Have a particular focus on reducing deprivation-related inequalities.