Cancer fund to tackle screening inequalities launched by government

A three year neighbourhood early diagnosis cancer fund to address screening inequalities in England has been launched by the government.

The fund is part of a £200m investment in local cancer care and forms part of the National Cancer Plan which is expected to launch this week.

The measure aims to address the gap in screening uptake in deprived areas and responds to England’s cancer survival rates, which lag behind many other European countries for several cancer types.

National medical director at NHS England, Dr Claire Fuller, said: ‘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.

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‘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.’

The fund aims to support Cancer Alliances to work with the NHS, community groups and charities to design local campaigns aimed at tackling barriers to screening uptake.

It will build on existing initiatives for example, in Liverpool, a new mobile breast screening unit is bringing services directly to, areas with some of the lowest uptake rates in the country by eliminating transport barriers.

While early diagnosis rates in England reached their highest ever levels in 2024 and 2025, significant disparities persist and worsen when taking into account ethnicity, being born in the UK and socioeconomic status.

Data from March 2021 to December 2023 showed that premature death rates due to cancer were more than twice as high in Blackpool (208 per 100,000 people) compared with Harrow (104 per 100,000 people)—the areas with the highest and lowest rates respectively.

Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: ‘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.

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‘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.’

Greater focus on rare cancers

As part of the same commitment to improving treatment for cancer, the government plans to enable patients with rare cancers to access clinical trials through the NHS App.

Be Part of Research, an existing free service allowing patients to take part in research, will be integrated into the NHS App to enable easier access to trials.

Initially, patients will be able to search for trials on a clinical research database and request contact. Eventually, patients will be able to sign up to automatically receive details of clinical trials that might benefit them.

The move is part of the Rare Cancers Bill, introduced by Dr Scott Arthur MP, and currently going through Parliament.

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Added to this the government will recruit a national lead for rare cancer and the National Institute for Health and Care Research will create a new speciality lead for rare cancers.

Dr Graham Cadwallader, head of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Rare cancers make up around 24% of all cancer diagnoses in the UK and EU, with patients too often facing slow progress and few treatment options... We are proud to support the Rare Cancers Bill's efforts to improve access to clinical trials for people living with rare cancers in the UK.’