Qurexa Logo
Qurexa

Trust. Care. Deliver.

Back to Blog & Insights
Health

20,000 patients, 200 GP surgeries, and one blood test that looks for a dozen cancers at once

Qurexa Editorial Team4 November 20267 min read 0 0
20,000 patients, 200 GP surgeries, and one blood test that looks for a dozen cancers at once

What happened

On 4 November 2026, the government announced a large new NHS trial of blood tests that look for cancer. The trial is called STRIDE-RCT. The tests were developed by the University of Birmingham. More than 20,000 NHS patients will take part, across at least 200 GP practices in England. Here is how it will work. If you are 45 or over and you go to your GP with tummy symptoms, such as bloating or discomfort that will not go away, you may be offered the chance to join. Most of the tests involve giving one or two extra tubes of blood at your GP surgery, taken at the same time as your normal blood tests. The tests are unusual because they look for signs of several different cancers in one sample. They also try to suggest where in the body a cancer might be. They use a mix of newer methods, including measuring proteins in the blood and using artificial intelligence to read the results. The cancers covered are bowel, small bowel, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver, bile duct and gallbladder, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer. The trial is funded by the Office for Life Sciences through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, with up to £8.49 million of government money. One point matters more than any other, and the government said it plainly: a positive result is not a cancer diagnosis. It is information to help a GP and patient decide whether an urgent referral is needed.

Why this matters

Cancers in the tummy area are hard to catch early. That is the whole reason for this trial. The symptoms are vague. Bloating, indigestion and stomach pain are extremely common, and almost always caused by something harmless. A GP sitting with a patient has to work out which of those people needs urgent tests, often with very little to go on. The numbers show how high the stakes are. Around 71,000 people in England are diagnosed with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer each year. There are almost 35,000 deaths from those cancers annually. Catching them early changes everything. Around nine in ten people diagnosed with bowel cancer at stage 1 survive at least five years. At stage 4, it is around one in ten. That is the gap this trial is aiming at. There is a second problem too, and it works in the opposite direction. At the moment, only 2% to 6% of urgent cancer referrals actually result in a cancer diagnosis. That means the large majority of people sent for urgent tests do not have cancer. They go through weeks of fear and hospital appointments for nothing, and they take up slots that someone else needs. Professor Aneel Bhangu, a consultant colorectal surgeon and one of the trial's chief investigators, described both sides of this: "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." A test that helped sort those two groups apart would be useful in both directions.

What the evidence actually says

This is the part to be careful about, because the headlines will be enthusiastic. Nothing has been proven yet. This is a trial. Its purpose is to find out whether these blood tests actually work well enough to be used in the NHS. The answer might be yes. It might also be no, or only for some cancers. The people running it are clear about that. Professor Bhangu said the 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." Professor Peter Johnson, NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer, struck a similar note. He said: "We are at the start of revolution in cancer diagnosis." The start, not the end. He added that "it is vital that we gather the evidence about these new technologies". Professor Lucy Chappell, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, said the approach "could be game-changing" — note the word "could". So what is genuinely new here is not a working test. It is a properly designed study, at real scale, in real GP surgeries, to find out whether these tests help. The trial will measure how well they perform alongside a GP's own judgement, before any decision is made about using them more widely. One detail is worth praising. Dr Dmitri Nepogodiev, the other chief investigator, said: "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." He also pointed out that people in the most deprived communities are more likely to have their cancer found in an emergency. A trial run only in well-off city practices would produce results that did not transfer. This one is deliberately spread across inner-city, rural, seaside and deprived areas. The government also stated that 250,000 more people were diagnosed on time or had cancer ruled out last year than in the year before the 2024 election. That is a government claim about its own record, so treat it as such rather than as a finding from this trial.

Practical advice

The single most useful thing in this story is not the technology. It is the reminder about symptoms. Do not wait for a blood test that does not exist yet. If you have tummy symptoms that are new for you and have not gone away after about three weeks, book an appointment. That includes bloating that persists, pain or discomfort that keeps coming back, indigestion that is new, losing weight without trying, or a change in your toilet habits that sticks around. Most of the time it will be nothing serious. That is genuinely true, and worth holding on to. But the only way to find out is to be seen. Be specific when you go. Say how long it has been going on, how often, and what has changed. Vague symptoms are easier for a GP to act on when they come with clear timings. Go back if it does not settle. Dr Anisha Patel, an NHS GP who was herself diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer at a young age, made this point about care generally: "listening to patients, taking their concerns seriously, following up persistent symptoms and ensuring screening attendance must remain at the heart of our care." If your symptoms carry on, or get worse, that is a reason to return, not a reason to feel you are being a nuisance. Do your screening. Bowel cancer screening kits get posted out to eligible adults in England. They feel easy to put off. They are one of the few tools that already works. If you are invited to join the trial, it is your choice. You can say no, and your normal care continues either way.

What to know

A new NHS trial called STRIDE-RCT will test whether a simple blood test can help GPs spot abdominal cancers earlier. More than 20,000 patients at 200-plus GP practices in England will take part. It is funded with up to £8.49 million of government money and was developed by the University of Birmingham. If you are 45 or over and see your GP about persistent tummy symptoms, you may be offered a place. It usually means one or two extra tubes of blood at the same visit. The tests are not yet proven, and a positive result is not a diagnosis. That is precisely what the trial exists to sort out. No one should delay seeing a GP about symptoms while waiting for this. Results will be used to decide whether these tests should be offered across the NHS. Sources: Department of Health and Social Care, Office for Life Sciences and Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, "New NHS blood test trial to help spot cancers earlier", 4 November 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-nhs-blood-test-trial-to-help-spot-cancers-earlier ; NHS, "Bowel cancer screening", https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/ ; Cancer Research UK, "Signs and symptoms of cancer", https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-symptoms This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If you have symptoms that worry you, or that have lasted more than about three weeks, contact your GP surgery.

#cancer#early diagnosis#blood tests#NHS trial#bowel cancer#GP services

Related articles