Media Monitoring: 28th August – 3rd September

General practice teams have delivered a record 33.6 million appointments in July 2025, up 4.3% on the year before and up nearly a quarter on the same period pre-pandemic (24.3% increase since 2019).
The statistics show the NHS is on-track for its busiest summer ever in general practice, with record appointments also delivered in June 2025.
GP teams also carried out high numbers of care home visits this July, with 127,112 carried out, the second highest on record.

Fewer cancers are diagnosed before they start to spread in Lancashire and South Cumbria than most other parts of the country.
Health officials said just over half of patients get a cancer diagnosis at stages one and two, putting the region near the bottom of NHS performance nationally.
However rates of diagnosis of the 13 most common types of cancer at those stages have improved at a faster rate than the national average, a meeting of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) heard.

Up to 63% of pharmacies could close in the next year without further support. according to a new survey.
Research by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) found four in 10 were unable to pay in full for the cost of prescription medication for patients.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it was “working to turn around a decade of underfunding and neglect”.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research has announced a major £6.5 million investment to establish a UK-wide Commercial Research Delivery Centre Network, hosted by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Funded through a public-private partnership with the pharmaceutical industry, the network officially launches today and will strategically coordinate all 21 CRDCs across the four nations of the UK.
This initiative marks a significant step forward in strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in life sciences and clinical research, aligning with the Prime Minister’s call to turbocharge medical research.

A simple new blood test could accurately detect ovarian cancer in its early stages, according to scientists in Manchester.
A research team at the University of Manchester trialled the test and found it was able to find tell-tale markers in the blood which are usually hard to detect.
It is hoped the test could speed up treatment and improve outcomes for women with the disease, which causes more than 4,000 deaths in the UK each year.

Cancer cases are projected to surge in England by 2040, with a person diagnosed every two minutes, up from one every four minutes in the 1970s.
More than 6 million new cases of the disease are predicted to be diagnosed over the next 15 years, with the NHS at risk of being unable to cope unless action is taken to prevent more cases and diagnose the disease earlier, when it is more treatable.
One Cancer Voice, the coalition of 60 cancer charities that published the projections on Tuesday, called on ministers to set early diagnosis targets and introduce strong prevention policies to save lives and transform cancer outcomes.