Raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer is vital to improving earlier diagnosis and improving outcomes for people affected by the disease. That is why it was concerning that Target Ovarian Cancer’s survey in 2022 showed low levels of awareness of key symptoms among women.  Please be assured that the Government and NHS are committed to improving awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer, with the NHS working towards the 75 per cent target for early cancer diagnosis to be achieved by 2028.

NHS England is currently repeating the “Help Us Help You” campaign that focuses on increasing earlier diagnosis of a range of abdominal and urological cancers, including ovarian cancer. This campaign was also run in 2021, where a survey of the target audience showed that knowledge of the abdominal and urological symptoms increased by 6 per cent during the campaign.  In addition, NHS England is also working to introduce clinical decision support tools and deliver cancer education programmes within general practice, including specific courses on ovarian cancer.

I believe that these actions will help to improve awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms, support earlier diagnosis of the disease and ensure more women can be treated earlier.