The Guardian view on a new test for cancer: grounds for optimism | Editorial

Early diagnosis is essential if survival rates are to improve, and the announcement of a trial starting next year is a promising sign

Substantial improvement in the early detection of cancers was among the key aims set out last year in NHS England's long-term plan. Although survival rates have been improving, it has long been recognised that too often they lag behind the best performing countries in Europe. Late diagnosis is widely recognised as being among the causes, since cancers found early are far more susceptible to treatment. Against this backdrop, last week's announcement that a new blood test is to be trialled on 165,000 people from next year, in the hope that it will help identify early-stage cancers, is an exciting development.

The test, known as Galleri, looks for abnormal DNA, and is most likely to have an impact on those cancers - including lung, ovarian and pancreatic - that are typically diagnosed late, and for which there is currently no screening programme. Another UK study using blood tests created by the same US healthcare company, Grail, to detect lung cancer (Britain's biggest cancer killer), is already under way. As ever with research, there are no guarantees, and NHS England has a mountain to climb: currently just 55% of cancers are diagnosed at stages 1 or 2. The aim is to reach 75% by 2028. But at the end of a year that has placed the NHS under huge strain, it is encouraging that some of the pledges in the long-term plan may be on the way to being met.