New NHS blood test trial to help spot cancers earlier
Tens of thousands of patients to take part in landmark trial to see if blood tests can spot cancers
- More than 20,000 NHS patients to take part in world-first cancer blood test trial
- Major research taking place in at least 200 GP practices in England targeted at wide range of abdominal cancers
- Government-funded programme aims to catch cancers before they develop
A world-leading new trial is being launched across at least 200 GP practices in England aimed at providing earlier diagnosis for a range of the most common cancers.
More than 20,000 NHS patients will take part in the trial to assess whether simple blood tests can spot prostate, ovarian, bowel, pancreatic, stomach, liver, and other abdominal cancers.
Participating patients aged 45 and over who visit their GP with abdominal symptoms – such as persistent bloating or discomfort – will be offered the chance to take part in the trial.
The cutting-edge blood tests aim to detect early markers of cancer, before more severe symptoms develop, providing the potential to catch and treat major cancers before they can progress.
Around 71,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer in England each year, and there are almost 35,000 deaths from these cancers.
Abdominal cancers are often found too late. Around nine in ten people diagnosed with bowel cancer at stage 1 survive at least five years, compared with around one in ten at stage 4.
This new trial gives the chance for clinicians to catch these conditions earlier, when treatment is more effective, potentially saving lives.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Yvette Cooper said:
The earlier cancers are diagnosed, the more chance they can be successfully treated, and lives can be saved. This world-first trial will establish whether simple blood tests can help GPs identify much sooner the patients who need urgent support.
Innovations like these are a key part of our National Cancer Plan, which will provide faster diagnosis, more effective treatment, and better care for every patient, while also investing in the trials and technology that offer hope of curing cancer for good.
The blood tests patients will receive through the trial, called STRIDE-RCT, will look for signs of several cancers in a single sample and suggest where in the body they come from.
Most of the tests in the trial, developed by the University of Birmingham, will ask patients to have one or two tubes of blood taken at their GP practice, alongside routine blood tests.
The tests use a variety of the latest technology – including artificial intelligence and measuring proteins in the blood.
A positive result will help the GP and patient decide whether an urgent referral is needed but it is not by itself a confirmed cancer diagnosis.
Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, said:
Cancer affects all of us at some point in our lives, and millions of people up and down the country will know how it feels to face that awful uncertainty while they wait for a diagnosis. Finding cases early is key – giving patients a clear path to treatment and helping save lives.
The UK is a world leader in medical science research, and this trial shows how important that leadership is in bringing forward breakthroughs that can make a real difference to people.
The cancers covered by the trial will include bowel, small bowel, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver, bile duct and gallbladder, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer.
The trial will assess how well the tests work alongside GPs’ judgement before an assessment is made on rolling them out nationwide.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer and Chair of the Office for Life Sciences Cancer Goal, said:
Detecting abdomen cancer early is notoriously difficult because the symptoms can easily be mistaken for other less serious conditions, but the NHS is determined to find a solution.
We are at the start of revolution in cancer diagnosis, and this trial will help us to find out whether blood tests can help GPs get the right patients to the right tests sooner, supporting earlier diagnosis when treatment is most likely to be successful.
It is vital that we gather the evidence about these new technologies and I am grateful to everyone taking part in this research.
Currently, just 2-6% of urgent referrals for cancer result in a diagnosis.
By giving GPs another tool to decide who needs further tests, the technology looks to reduce this figure and free up appointments for those with a genuinely urgent need.
Funded by the Office for Life Sciences through the Government’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the trial will receive up to £8.49 million of government funding and will cover a broad range of inner-city, rural, seaside and deprived communities.
This supports one of the main ambitions in the National Cancer Plan to identify cancers earlier, giving people the best chance of survival. It builds on progress already made, with 250,000 more people diagnosed on time or having cancer ruled out last year than in the year before the 2024 election.
This world-first trial underlines the UK’s leadership in life sciences, with companies from around the world looking to work with the NHS to evaluate these cutting-edge blood tests. It builds on the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and wider Industrial Strategy, backing research to bring new treatments to patients, create high-skilled jobs and become Europe’s leading life sciences economy by 2030.
The Chancellor recently announced £1 billion in public-private life sciences investment, supporting more than 1,000 jobs and the development of new treatments, bringing the total secured since the plan launched in July 2025 to more than £4 billion. The government has also met its target to set up at least 95% of commercial clinical trials within 150 days, helping patients access potentially life-changing treatments sooner. These efforts to boost the life sciences sector mean NHS patients will be at the forefront of the latest medical innovations with the potential to transform care.
Professor Aneel Bhangu, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Director of the Surgical Data and Policy Lab and Co-Chief Investigator, said:
Too many patients with cancer reach me after months of vague symptoms that were hard to pin down. At the same time, most people referred urgently do not have cancer, causing unnecessary worry and expense.
These blood tests might help GPs tell the two apart, but we need to know for certain before they are used across the NHS, and this trial is designed to give that answer quickly.
Dr. Anisha Patel, NHS GP, author, and bowel cancer survivor said:
As a GP and someone diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer at a young age, I know how much earlier diagnosis matters.
The challenge in general practice is that cancer symptoms can be vague and overlap with many other conditions.
Cancers such as pancreatic, ovarian, bowel and stomach cancer can sometimes be difficult to recognise early, and a later diagnosis can mean fewer treatment options and poorer outcomes.
This trial offers real hope that blood tests could help us improve early diagnosis by identifying sooner who needs further investigation.
Alongside this innovation, listening to patients, taking their concerns seriously, following up persistent symptoms and ensuring screening attendance must remain at the heart of our care.
Professor Lucy Chappell, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) CEO and Department of Health and Social Care Chief Scientific Adviser, said:
Abdominal cancers are frequently aggressive and difficult to detect. This is devastating for so many patients and their families and claiming thousands of lives every year.
For the last 20 years, NIHR has invested in high quality research that transforms patient care. This NIHR and OLS-supported study will assess whether harnessing cutting-edge technologies and placing multi-cancer detection blood tests directly into routine GP consultations can provide earlier diagnosis for these cancers.
This could be game-changing, with potential to streamline urgent referrals, ease NHS pressures, and deliver earlier diagnoses when treatments are most effective.
Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said:
Symptoms such as bloating and stomach pain are common and could have many causes, making it difficult for GPs to know when to investigate for cancer. As a result, some cancers may go undetected until they are at a later stage, when they are harder to treat.
GPs have long needed better tools to help them navigate that uncertainty by identifying which patients require further testing and this trial in England is an important step towards addressing that need. This trial exploring whether blood tests could help GPs identify people who need further tests and, ultimately, diagnose cancers earlier is welcome. The findings will be valuable in guiding further research, including whether these tests could be used in the NHS.
Jodie Moffat, Director of Charitable Impact at Bowel Cancer UK, said:
We welcome this new trial, which will help to guide improvements in the diagnosis of bowel cancer.
Diagnosing bowel cancer can be tricky, particularly when the symptoms could be caused by a range of different diseases, so innovations which help health professionals to work out which patients need to be urgently referred would be a very positive step forward.
We look forward to seeing the results of the trial and are excited to see the positive difference it could make to the lives of many affected by bowel cancer.
Alfie Bailey Bearfield, Head of Policy and Influencing at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said:
We desperately need new tools to help doctors detect pancreatic cancer in time to save lives. Vague symptoms – like persistent tummy pain and indigestion – make it incredibly challenging to decide who should be urgently referred to hospital for tests.
It’s really encouraging to see the effectiveness of promising blood test technologies rigorously trialled at scale here in the UK. We are excited to see whether this new approach can help identify people at risk at an earlier stage, when pancreatic cancer is more treatable.
Currently, half of people with this devastating disease die within just three months of their diagnosis. Successful results from this study could guide the development of new tools and, in future, give many more people with pancreatic cancer the very best chance of survival.
Associate Professor Dmitri Nepogodiev, Consultant in Public Health at the University of Birmingham and Co-Chief Investigator, said:
Abdominal cancers are often found late, and people in our most deprived communities are more likely to be diagnosed in an emergency.
We have designed the trial to include practices in inner cities, coastal towns and rural areas, so the results apply to everyone the NHS serves.