Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that all women diagnosed with non-mucinous ovarian cancer are offered BRCA1/2 gene testing at the point of diagnosis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) clinical guideline on familial breast cancer, published in June 2013, recommends that women with breast or ovarian cancer should be offered genetic testing if their combined BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carrier possibility is 10% or more.

NICE clinical guidelines represent best practice and we expect National Health Service organisations in England to take them fully into account in designing services to meet the needs of their local populations. Clinical guidelines are not subject to the same statutory funding regulation as NICE’s technology appraisals.

NHS England advises that moving to routine testing at a 10% risk threshold in England would require a significant capacity and funding investment. This would be for the increase needed in genetic testing and associated counselling, and also in other services such as diagnostics - more mammography for example - and other support and preventative treatments such as surgery.

However, NHS England is considering moving to a lower threshold as part of the annual prioritisation process for funding in 2015-16.

Departmental officials have raised this issue with NHS England and it will also be raised at a forthcoming Ministerial meeting.