Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of (a) current imaging capacity within the NHS and (b) imaging capacity required to meet the Independent Cancer Taskforce's recommendation that all GPs have direct access to investigative tests by the end of 2015; and if he will make a statement.

The extension of direct access to diagnostic tests for primary care is an issue for clinical commissioning groups and local commissioners. Although the Independent Cancer Taskforce report did estimate that some additional diagnostic capacity was needed, it did not consider possible increases in capacity required specifically as a result of increasing general practitioner (GP) direct access to testing.

The Taskforce’s five-year strategy recommends improvements across the cancer pathway, with the aim of improving survival rates, and we will work with the NHS, charities and patient groups to deliver it. We have already announced funding of up to £300 million a year by 2020 to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the new target that patients will be given a definitive cancer diagnosis, or the all clear, within 28 days of being referred by a GP.

In addition, the recently updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence referral guidelines for suspected cancer also recommend GPs refer direct-to-test in a number of different circumstances. The guidance is available at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12