Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans for the (a) voluntary and (b) community sector to have a role in implementing the neighbourhood cancer care model set out in the national cancer plan.

The National Cancer Plan will seek to foster improved collaboration with partners across the cancer ecosystem, including the voluntary and community sector.

The 10-Year Health Plan laid out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service, which will rebalance our health system so that it fits around people’s lives, not the other way round. At its core, the Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can: digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, in a hospital if necessary.

The Neighbourhood Health Service will mean millions of patients are treated and care for closer to their home by new teams of professionals; and neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services on people’s doorsteps.

We will soon launch the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). The NNHIP will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works, making Neighbourhood Health the norm, not the exception.

The National Cancer Plan will be published later in 2025 and will set out further details on measures to support collaboration with cancer partners.