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 awareness of the (a) symptoms and (b) treatment of prostate cancer among men.

NHS England run Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.

The Department continues to advise patients in England to follow National Health Service guidance on the signs and symptoms of several types of cancer, including prostate cancer. This advice is available publicly on the NHS.UK website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/prostate-cancer/

Improving access to treatment and care are key priorities for the Government for all cancer types, including prostate cancer. To achieve this, the NHS in England has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to ensure early diagnosis and faster treatment. Additionally, the Government will spend £70 million on new radiotherapy machines in England, to ensure the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

The NHS England Cancer Programme also commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, thereby increasing the consistency of access to treatments, and helping to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients, including those with prostate cancer.

To increase awareness of treatment options, the Department is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients in England are offered a Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care and Support Planning, ensuring care is focused on what matters most to each person. This is being delivered in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer, and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support.

The National Cancer Plan for England, planned for publication later this year, will include further details on how the NHS will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as improving access to treatment and care.