Just 30% of GPs have sufficient access to vital scans to save cancer patients

No screening programmes or early detection tests exist for pancreatic cancer, meaning CT scans are the only tool available to help doctors diagnose the disease in time to remove the tumour and save lives

Less than a third of GPs have sufficient access to vital scans needed to diagnose the deadliest cancer.

Shocking polling of family doctors has revealed why UK survival rates for pancreatic cancer lag the rest of the world.

Only one in four people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in England survive their disease for one year or more.

No screening programmes or early detection tests exist for pancreatic cancer, meaning CT scans are currently the only tool available to help doctors diagnose the disease in time to remove the tumour and save lives.

The poll of 1,004 UK GPs conducted by Savanta ComRes revealed 36% said they had sufficient access “some of the time”.

Alarmingly 20% were either “rarely” or “never” able to refer someone they suspected of having pancreatic cancer within the 28-day diagnostic standard.

Only 30% of GPs have sufficient access “all of the time” to vital scans.

Pancreatic Cancer UK, which commissioned the polling, says it may have developed the first simple blood test to diagnose the killer cancer.

It has invested £1.6 million towards its Early Diagnosis Research Alliance involving more than 40 leading UK scientists who created the test which has proven to be highly accurate in laboratory trials.

However the charity has launched a fundraising appeal to enable its research to proceed to human clinical trials that can prove it works.

Diana Jupp, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “’Sorry, it’s too late. We can’t save you’ are the devastating words that 80% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will hear this year.

“The same words the majority of patients and their loved ones have been hearing for the last 50 years. We have hardly made any progress.

“We simply cannot allow this to continue, not when we have seen the game-changing impact early diagnosis research has had for breast, prostate and other common cancers.

“We have to give doctors the innovative new tools they need to detect the warning signs earlier, so they can ensure those who need it, receive treatment as soon as possible.

“It’s an enormous challenge, but if the public stand with us, they can help deliver the first diagnostic test for the deadliest common cancer – a historic breakthrough that could save thousands of lives a year.”

Despite causing a death of a similar number of people annually as breast cancer pancreatic cancer receives 93% less research funding.

The charity says that decades of underinvestment mean that today more than half of people with pancreatic cancer still die within three months of diagnosis – survival odds that have barely improved since the 1970s.

Eight out of 10 people with pancreatic cancer are already not being diagnosed until after the disease has spread – almost double the proportion for other cancers.

Just 7% of pancreatic cancer patients in the UK survive longer than five years and a landmark 2018 study showed five year survival rates here ranked 29th out of 33 countries with comparable data.

The disease claims around 10,000 lives a year and has notoriously vague symptoms such as back pain, indigestion and unexpected weight-loss.

Nearly half of all pancreatic cancer patients are currently diagnosed via an emergency such as through visiting A&E.

One-year survival for patients if diagnosed via GP referral is three times higher.

Pancreatic Cancer UK’s polling asked if GPs had sufficient access to scans for patients. They 30% responded “all of the time”, 36% said “some of the time”, 13% said “rarely”, 7% said “never” and 14% said “don’t know”.

The charity is urging the public to pledge their support for more research into early diagnosis at: https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/unite-diagnose-save-lives/