Thank you for contacting me about support for people affected by pancreatic cancer.
Every effort is being made to improve early diagnosis and to drive up survival rates for pancreatic cancer.
I fully agree that more must be done to reduce the survival gap between pancreatic cancer and other cancers, and the development of the Major Conditions Strategy provides an important opportunity to focus on improving these outcomes.
The input of patient groups like Pancreatic Cancer UK will be invaluable to help develop the Major Conditions Strategy by highlighting the lived experience of people with pancreatic cancer.
Research into less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer is also important to improving outcomes. The Government funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which has allocated £3.6 million towards seven research projects into pancreatic cancer since 2016.
Although this funding amounts to 5 per cent of the NIHR’s total cancer research spending, the Government is actively encouraging more bids from researchers so that the NIHR can allocate more towards pancreatic cancer research.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.