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<p>£2.3 billion was awarded at Spending Review 2021 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years, including urgent cancer referrals. As part of this investment, up to 160 new Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) will deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, providing patients with a co-ordinated set of diagnostic checks, including for cancer, such as Computerised Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.</p><p>In November 2022, NHS England announced that general practitioners (GPs) would have direct access to a range of key diagnostic tests. This is being rolled out across all GP practices in England for patients with concerning symptoms, but who fall outside the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline threshold for an urgent suspected cancer referral. GPs will be able to refer patients directly to CDCs. This will tackle both elective care waiting lists and deliver the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions on early cancer diagnosis.</p><p>We are working to reduce waiting times for cancer treatment, but we know there is more to do. NHS England continues to actively support those trusts requiring the greatest help to cut cancer waiting lists, and the Department is working with NHS England to make further improvements.</p> |