Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that ovarian cancer is either diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is committed to rolling out a new Faster Diagnosis Standard by 2020 to ensure that patients referred for an investigation with a suspicion of cancer are diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days. National Health Service trusts were able to begin using the new pathways from April 2018 and all will be expected to be using them from April 2019. NHS England committed more than £200 million in cancer services over the next two years, to accelerate diagnosis and enhance quality of life.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of running an awareness campaign on the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England ran a regional pilot ovarian campaign in the North West of England from 10 February to 16 March 2014. The campaign’s key message was ‘Feeling bloated, most days, for three weeks or more could be a sign of ovarian cancer. Tell your doctor’.
The public awareness survey results, general practice attendance data and referrals data suggest that the regional campaign did have an effect on the target audience’s understanding of the key symptom of ‘bloating’. However, the results showed no impact on diagnoses and there has not been any further roll out of the campaign.
Results for the number of cancers diagnosed, the stage at cancer diagnosis and survival have shown no evidence of an impact, although it has been difficult to evaluate due to small numbers, the availability of the data sets and a time lag in terms of the effect.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the increase in iron deficiency anaemia, particularly among children and older people.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s Eatwell Guide, the nation’s healthy eating model, is designed to ensure dietary recommendations are met. The Eatwell Guide was distributed to health professionals when it was launched through the British Medical Journal, Dietetics Today and targeted articles. The Eatwell Guide includes a variety of iron rich foods including fortified cereals, red meat, vegetables, nuts, eggs and fish.
The diagnosis and treatment of iron deficiency anaemia is the responsibility of general practitioners using their professional judgement, supported by relevant guidance, to arrange the appropriate tests and investigations. It is recommended that health professionals be aware of the increased risk of iron deficiency anaemia in high risk groups including women of reproductive age and older adults. Those with signs and symptoms suggestive of iron deficiency anaemia should receive appropriate clinical assessment and advice, including dietary advice on how to increase their iron intakes or iron supplements if required.
A range of guidance on the testing and treatment of all types’ anaemia is available from sources including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Clinical Knowledge Summaries website and NHS Choices. These can be found via the links below:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/anaemia-iron-deficiency
www.nhs.uk/conditions/iron-deficiency-anaemia/
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timetable is for a decision on the next round of cancer audits; and whether ovarian cancer will be included within those audits.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England, the Welsh Government and the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership are currently recommissioning the cancer audits that sit within the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme portfolio and have been charged with achieving greater alignment to produce a more sustainable delivery model. Discussions will take place over the next year on potential new topics, such as ovarian cancer and any new audits will draw on data that is already available and routinely collected, wherever possible.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether there are plans to extend the cancer dashboard to include tumour-specific data for (a) ovarian and (b) other less common cancers.
Answered by Steve Brine
The initial focus of the cancer dashboard was to report on tumours with the highest incidence rates. NHS England intends to explore other tumour types in the dashboard over time. However, it is important to note that it will not be possible to include detailed data on some rarer cancers at clinical commissioning group level due to the low number of cases. It may be possible to include data on these cancers by larger geographical areas, such as Cancer Alliances or Sustainability and Transformation Partnership areas.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of recent measures to (a) raise awareness of sepsis and (b) improve the diagnosis of that condition.
Answered by Philip Dunne
In September 2017, NHS England published the second Cross-System Sepsis Action Plan which sets out existing and new cross-system measures to support early diagnosis and timely treatment of sepsis in a range of settings.
The effectiveness of these measures is currently assessed through the NHS England Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) scheme which also incentives acute providers to improve the identification and timely treatment of sepsis. The data shows that the measures are already delivering change:
- Emergency Department assessment has increased from 52% to 87% since this part of the CQUIN started in April 2015 and timely treatment increased from 49% to 72% in the same period; and
- In-patient assessment for sepsis increased from 62% to 78% and timely treatment has increased from 58% to 76% for these patients since this part of the CQUIN started in April 2016.
An evaluation is currently underway on the best way to improve measurement of sepsis cases and outcomes.
In 2016, Public Health England launched a national sepsis campaign in partnership with the UK Sepsis Trust. The effectiveness of the campaign was assessed by independent market research by online interviews before and after the activity with the target audience to see how awareness and knowledge had changed. This research shows that awareness among parents rose from the baseline figure of 75% to 83%. In addition, following the campaign, parents who reported knowing a fair amount or a great deal about sepsis increased from 38% to 61% and 75% could name at least one of the key symptoms of sepsis and 57% could name two.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State of Health, what steps the Department is taking to promote awareness and improve the rate of diagnosis of anaemia.
Answered by Steve Brine
Iron deficiency anaemia is the most prevalent type of anaemia and is also the most common deficiency in the world, affecting over 2 billion people worldwide. NHS Choices provides advice on the symptoms of iron deficiency anaemia, such as fatigue, palpitations, pale complexion and advises anyone experiencing those symptoms speak to their general practitioner (GP). NHS Choices also provides advice on the less common types of anaemia related to levels of vitamin B12 or folate.
It is the responsibility of GPs, using their clinical judgement and supported by relevant guidance, to arrange the appropriate tests and investigations that may lead to a diagnosis. The full blood count, one the most commonly used tests in the National Health Service, is a broad screening tool used to provide a picture of patient health and check for indications of disorders such as anaemia, infection, and many other diseases.
A range of guidance on the further testing and treatment of all types anaemia is available from sources including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) website. The CKS information on iron deficiency anaemia can be found at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/anaemia-iron-deficiency