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<p>The NHS Cancer Programme is committed to improving early diagnosis as outlined
in the Long Term Plan ambition to diagnose three-quarters of all cancers at stages
1 and 2 by 2028. This includes all stageable cancers.</p><p>To achieve this ambition,
the NHS Cancer Programme is working on a number of programmes to improve early diagnosis
rates for all cancers. The Rapid Diagnostic Centres (RDCs) are a new flagship policy
in the Long Term Plan that offer patients a range of tests in the same day with rapid
access to results. These RDCs starting to be rolled out in 2019/20 and will support
the overall early diagnosis ambition. The RDCs will upgrade and bring together the
latest diagnostic equipment and expertise, building on 10 models piloted with Cancer
Research UK, which have focused on diagnosing cancers where patients often present
with non-specific symptoms, often the case with ovarian cancer, and may go to their
general practitioner many times before being sent for tests, such as blood and stomach
cancers.</p><p> </p><p>A new cancer diagnosis standard, designed to ensure that patients
find out within 28 days if they have cancer, will be introduced in 2020. All hospitals
in England are now collecting data on how long it takes patients to reach cancer diagnosis,
and they are working to improve performance over the next year and reduce unwarranted
variation, for example geographical variation.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p>
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