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 help increase public awareness of minimally invasive cancer therapies.

The Department and NHS do not normally undertake public awareness campaigns on treatments and therapies. This is because cancer patients will often have a range of treatment choices available to them and it is important that informed decisions are taken by each patient, in consultation with their treating clinician, following the advice of multi-disciplinary teams that are experts in the management of cancer.

Instead, the Department and the NHS’s focus is on early diagnosis, including raising awareness of cancer symptoms and encouraging people to come forward through public awareness campaigns such as ‘Help us, help you’. By encouraging earlier diagnosis, cancer patients will have a wider range of treatment options available to consider, including minimally invasive therapies where appropriate.

The adoption of new treatments, including minimally invasive cancer treatments, into the NHS in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and/or commissioner decisions. For treatments that form part of a prescribed specialised or highly specialised service, NHS England’s specialised commissioning function is responsible for putting in place access. For treatments that are not part of a prescribed specialised service, the responsibility sits with integrated care boards (ICBs). Both NHS England and ICBs are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE. Pharmaceutical companies are also able to accelerate access to new treatments and technologies through schemes like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, Project Orbis or The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, enabling patients to benefit from innovative treatments quickly.

Looking ahead, from April 2024, ICBs will become the responsible commissioner for a number of specialised services and will want to work with and through local Cancer Alliances to plan and organise access to care that meets national standards. By integrating the commissioning of specialised and non-specialised services, ICBs will be able to join-up care around patient needs and invest in resources where they can have best effect on outcomes.