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 benefits of making clinically beneficial cancer treatments available to patients according to (a) patient need and (b) clinical effectiveness and (c) clinicians' assessments, rather than treatment-line status alone.

The Government remains committed to improving access to innovative cancer treatments through the National Cancer Plan for England and to reducing inequalities in cancer outcomes and patient experience. Treatment decisions for individual patients are made by clinicians and multidisciplinary teams, who apply National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance alongside their clinical judgement to determine the most appropriate care.

NICE is the independent body responsible for making independent recommendations on whether medicines and treatments should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England, based on an assessment of their clinical and cost effectiveness.

NICE recommendations take account of both the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of treatments and interventions. Recommendations are informed by the available evidence for specific patient groups and treatment settings, including where evidence relates to different lines of therapy. NICE’s existing approach already takes account of clinical effectiveness, patient need, and the appropriateness of treatments at different stages of the pathway, informed by clinical evidence and expert input.

The National Health Service is legally required to fund treatments recommended by NICE, helping ensure equitable access for eligible patients across England. In addition, the Cancer Drugs Fund supports earlier access to promising cancer medicines while further evidence is collected. Differences in access between first-line, second line, and later-line treatments reflect the available clinical evidence, licensing, and cost effectiveness of treatments in specific settings, rather than inequity. NICE’s methodology is designed to ensure that patients with similar clinical characteristics are treated consistently and that access decisions are applied uniformly across the NHS.