Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to rollout the Cytosponge cancer test.

Cytosponge enables the detection of Barrett’s Oesophagus, which is a precursor for oesophageal cancer. The Cytosponge test is currently being piloted and evaluated within the NHS through the national cancer programme. There are two programmes being implemented. The first is in secondary care for routine reflux and Barrett’s surveillance. The second is in primary care as proactive case finding.

Since 2021, in the secondary care cohort, over 7100 capsules have been swallowed across 37 trusts. The final evaluation report for the secondary care routine reflux cohort will be published in autumn 2023, and results for the Barrett’s surveillance cohort are expected in 2024. In primary care, the pilot is expected to launch in June 2023 and complete in summer/autumn 2024.