Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of eligible people have received a check through the targeted lung health check programme in Yorkshire since the establishment of that programme; and what steps he plans to take to help increase the update of those checks.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is available in some areas of England and offers a lung cancer screen to those who are over 55 years old but younger than 75 years old; are registered with a general practitioner; and have a history of smoking.
The Yorkshire region is covered by three Cancer Alliances. NHS England has advised that in the Humber and North Yorkshire, of the 202,527 estimated eligible population, 75,973 people were invited for a lung check, representing 37.5% population coverage. 34,217 had lung checks, and 24,726 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme is 45%.
In West Yorkshire and Harrogate, of the 202,836 estimated eligible population, 36,277 were invited, representing 17.9% population coverage. 19,941 people had lung checks, and 10,404 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme is 55%.
In South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, of the 177,788 estimated eligible population, 132,658 were invited, representing 74.6% population coverage. 49,682 had lung checks, and 32,561 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme stands at 37%.
The Cancer Alliances undertake a range of community engagement, advertising, and ‘reminder’ activities to increase uptake. At a national level, NHS England continues to carry out behavioural insights research to inform their approach to supporting and improving uptake of the programme. NHS England has produced a range of engagement assets including for social media adverts, leaflets and posters which are used by local sites. They aim to run further social media adverts in future.
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening programme will be fully rolled out by 2029.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to (a) increase breast cancer screening rates to pre-covid-19 levels and (b) meet his Department's breast cancer screening targets.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Following COVID-19, a national restoration plan was implemented by NHS England in 2020/21 with targeted support to all breast screening services, to clear the backlog by the summer of 2023. In 2021/22 and 2022/23, activity was higher than in the previous 10 years with more women invited for breast screening compared to pre-pandemic years.
NHS England’s national uptake improvement plan aims to address the fact that despite this action, some women are still not coming forward for breast screening. The plan includes active follow up of women who have missed appointments or who have not engaged with screening, a review to establish reasons for non-attendance to identify and address any barriers, and a look at how different invitation methods may impact on uptake, for instance factors such as age, screening history, and deprivation.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing a specific action plan for (a) cancers of the (i) brain, (ii) liver, (iii) lung, (iv) stomach, (v) oesophagus and (vi) pancreas and (b) other less survivable cancers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of an action plan for less survivable cancers individually or as a group, or had specific discussions with international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.
Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. The report will inform the Government’s ten-year plan to reform the NHS, including further detail on how we will improve outcomes for cancer, including less survivable cancers.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of an action plan for less survivable cancers individually or as a group, or had specific discussions with international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.
Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. The report will inform the Government’s ten-year plan to reform the NHS, including further detail on how we will improve outcomes for cancer, including less survivable cancers.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible people in Yorkshire and the Humber have been screened through the national targeted lung cancer screening programme since July 2023; and what steps he is taking to increase the level of uptake for that scheme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is available in some areas of England and offers a lung cancer screen to those who are over 55 years old but younger than 75 years old; are registered with a general practitioner; and have a history of smoking.
NHS England has advised that to the end of August 2024, 36.3% of the eligible population in the Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance has been invited to the Lung Cancer Screening programme since 2019, with 16,103 people participating between July 2023 and July 2024. Estimated uptake for May to July 2024, the most recent available three months of data, was 55.4%. This has improved significantly with the rolling average for the last 12 months being 47.8%.
A wide range of initiatives continues to be carried out to improve uptake in the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme. For example, at a national level this includes using social media, leaflets and posters to promote the programme and at a local level, using text messaging to remind people of their appointment. Cancer Alliances are also bringing together primary care networks, lung cancer screening teams and communication colleagues to ensure collaborative and informed working is taking place.
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme will be fully rolled out to 100% of the eligible population by 2029.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS providers prioritise funding for (a) upgrades and (b) replacements of radiotherapy machines.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will continue to support the provision of radiotherapy machines, however since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has been with local systems.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to access radiotherapy treatment on cancer outcomes; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure patients that need radiotherapy treatment can access it as quickly as possible.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government believes that cancer patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, including radiotherapy treatment. We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster. We will improve patients’ experience across the system.
Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the NHS and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral and to increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.
Improving 62-day performance and early diagnosis are already key priorities for NHS England. Lord Darzi’s report will inform our ten-year plan to reform the NHS, which include further details on how we will improve cancer diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people received NHS treatment for dissociative identity disorder in each of the last five years; and which NHS Hospital Trusts offer this treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested regarding the number of people receiving or having received treatment for dissociative identity disorder is not available in the format requested.