Alasdair McDonnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England’s Be Clear on Cancer campaigns aim to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise. Pancreatic cancer is generally asymptomatic at an early stage and it is for this reason that there has not been a campaign focussing on this cancer type to date.

Public Health England is also looking to develop an approach to raise awareness of generic symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms. This work is currently in development, with the help of a number of experts, including clinicians and charities.