New fund to tackle cancer screening inequalities and save lives

• Government announces new three-year Neighbourhood Early Diagnosis Fund as part of £200 million investment in local cancer care
• Health services will work with their local communities to address gap in screening uptake and reduce screening inequalities in deprived areas
• Focusing on what matters most to patients, announcement is part of the National Cancer Plan, which will make England a world-leader in cancer survival

Patients in deprived and underserved areas, will receive potentially lifesaving, earlier cancer diagnosis through a new £200 million scheme to tackle postcode lotteries in cancer care.

Local communities across England will benefit from the major investment, aimed at reducing cancer screening inequalities and catching more cancers early.

More people survive cancer than ever before, but progress has slowed over the last decade with survival in England now behind many other European countries for several cancer types.

This government is determined to buck that trend by improving early diagnosis, which is critical to reducing inequalities in cancer survival across different areas of the country.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:

In 1948, Aneurin Bevan founded the NHS with a promise that the best possible care would be available to all, regardless of their ability to pay or where they live. The postcode lottery for cancer care we see today shows that promise has still not been realised. Our cancer plan will put this right, through investment and modernisation.

I know from my own experience of being diagnosed with kidney cancer how vital early detection is. It was only caught by chance because I went to hospital about something else entirely. I was one of the lucky ones – but healthcare shouldn't be left to luck. We will ensure that no community is left behind when it comes to catching cancer early. Wealth should not dictate health.

Advances in medical science allow us to screen much more accurately for early signs of cancer. Bringing this to every part of our country will help catch cancer earlier and treat it faster.

Dr Claire Fuller, National Medical Director at NHS England, said:

Screening is crucial in helping the NHS catch cancers earlier and boost people's chance of survival, but it's vital that it is as easy to get screened in the most deprived areas as is in the most affluent parts of England.

Through the National Cancer Plan we will work closer with local communities to ensure that barriers to early diagnosis and screening opportunities are eradicated and help to make England a world-leader for cancer survival.

Data from March 2021 to December 2023 showed the rates of premature death due to cancer were more than two times higher (101%) in Blackpool (208 per 100,000 people) compared with Harrow (104 per 100,000 people) - the areas with the highest and lowest rates of premature death due to cancer respectively. These disparities get worse when taking into account ethnicity, being born in the UK, and socioeconomic status.

Despite the importance of early diagnosis to survival, between 2013 and 2020 there were significant differences in early diagnosis between the most affluent and the poorest areas of the country.

There have been recent signs of progress, with this government delivering the first sustained increase in early diagnosis in over a decade, driven by a streamlining of referral routes, support to primary care to spot signs and symptoms, and lung cancer screening rollout.

Early diagnosis rates in 2024 and 2025 have been at their highest ever level, with the rise equating to around 10,000 more people diagnosed at the earliest stages in the last year.

From 2026, Cancer Alliances – regional NHS partnerships that coordinate cancer services – and neighbourhood health services will work directly with local communities, screening commissioners and providers to develop targeted campaigns aimed at reducing the gap in screening uptake between the most and least deprived areas.

The three-year Neighbourhood Early Diagnosis Fund, which forms part of wider ring-fenced funding for cancer totalling £200 million in 2026-27, will enable Cancer Alliances to support their local NHS to reduce inequalities in communities and among groups where rates of early diagnosis are lower.

These alliances will work with community groups and charities to identify barriers and design effective local campaigns to maximise their impact and develop targeted campaigns aimed at reducing the gap in screening uptake.

This funding builds on the success of existing initiatives across the country. For example, mobile lung cancer screening is reaching people aged 55–74 who smoke or have a history of smoking, with units visiting communities across Greater Manchester. More than 1,200 patients have been diagnosed with lung cancer through the programme, with almost 80% found at an early, treatable stage. Wigan resident Gillian Glynn, 60, credits the screening with saving her life after her cancer was detected at stage one during a visit to her local supermarket.

Elsewhere, in Liverpool, a new mobile breast screening unit is bringing services directly to North and Central Liverpool, areas with some of the lowest uptake rates in the country. By eliminating transport barriers and making screening more accessible, the initiative aims to improve health outcomes for local women.

Patients want quicker diagnosis and to know they are being offered the latest and most innovative treatment backed by the latest research so they are supported to live well with cancer. That's why the government has developed the forthcoming National Cancer Plan in collaboration with clinicians, charities and patients, and based squarely on the experiences and needs of patients.