The UK Government has pledged £200 million to local cancer care to address screening uptake gaps and reduce screening inequalities in deprived areas.
Patients in deprived and underserved areas will receive potentially lifesaving, earlier cancer diagnosis through the scheme to tackle postcode lotteries in cancer screening.
Local communities across England will benefit from the major investment, aimed at reducing cancer screening inequalities and catching more cancers early.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting explained: “In 1948, the NHS was founded 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 the promise has still not been realised. Our cancer screening plan will put this right, through investment and modernisation.”
More people are surviving cancer, but progress has slowed
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.
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.
Moreover, 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 worsen when accounting for ethnicity, UK birthplace, and socioeconomic status.
The government is determined to overcome this trend by improving cancer screening for early diagnosis, which is critical to reducing inequalities in cancer survival across different areas of the country.
Early diagnosis is on the up due to improved cancer screening services
There have been recent signs of progress, with the government delivering the first sustained increase in early diagnosis in over a decade, driven by streamlining referral routes, support for primary care to spot signs and symptoms, and the rollout of lung cancer screening.
Early diagnosis rates in 2024 and 2025 have reached their highest ever levels, with the rise equating to around 10,000 more people diagnosed at the earliest stages in the last year.
Improving access in the most deprived areas of the UK
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 cancer screening uptake between the most and least deprived areas.
These alliances will work with community groups and charities to identify barriers, 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.
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.
Supporting patients through diagnosis, treatment and aftercare
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.
This is why the government has developed the forthcoming National Cancer Plan in collaboration with clinicians, charities and patients, and based squarely on patients’ experiences and needs.
