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<p>Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government. We will
continue to work with NHS England, Public Health England and other partners to achieve
early diagnosis through improved screening programmes, Be Clear on Cancer campaigns
to raise awareness of symptoms of cancer to encourage people with symptoms to present
promptly to their general practitioner (GP), and help for GPs to refer more accurately.</p><br
/><p>We have committed to implementing recommendation 24 of the Independent Cancer
Taskforce’s report <em>Achieving World-Class Outcomes</em> that by 2020, everyone
referred with a suspicion of cancer will receive either a definitive diagnosis or
the all-clear within four weeks. NHS England is working with partners across the health
system to consider how best to take this forward. This standard will be underpinned
by investment of up to £300 million more in diagnostics each year by 2020.</p><br
/><p>NHS England has launched a major early diagnosis programme, Accelerate, Co-ordinate,
Evaluate (ACE), working jointly with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support
to test new innovative approaches to identifying cancer more quickly. Outputs from
the first wave of test sites, which commenced in April 2015, will be delivered on
a phased basis, with the majority falling between September 2015 and December 2016.
It is expected that ACE Wave 1 evaluation will be complete by mid-2017.</p><br /><p>In
June this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an
updated guideline ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’. The guideline focuses
on key symptoms, to make it easier to use and will continue to support GPs to identify
patients with symptoms of suspected cancer, and urgently refer them as appropriate.
The guideline recommends a lower referral threshold for urgent referrals where cancer
is suspected.</p>
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