Prostate Cancer

(asked on 12th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to tackle regional variation in (a) rates of early detection and (b) diagnostic waiting times for prostate cancer.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 18th December 2023

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer waiting times and treatment, including for prostate cancer is a priority for the Government as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as this is a key contributor to reducing cancer health inequalities.

Early cancer diagnosis is one of the five clinical areas of focus in NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach to reducing health inequalities. Efforts are focused on the diagnosing 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028 as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

To support this, NHS England introduced the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) which sets a target of maximum 28 day wait from urgent suspected general practitioner or screening referral to patients being told they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out. The FDS also intends to reduce unwarranted variation in England by understanding how long it is taking people to receive a diagnosis or ‘all clear’ for cancer. To achieve this target, NHS England has streamlined cancer pathways, including implementing a best-timed prostate cancer diagnostic pathway so that those suspected of prostate cancer receive a multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging scan first, which ensures only those men most at-risk undergo an invasive biopsy.

On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy to consider the six conditions, including cancer, that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England, including cancer. The Major Conditions Strategy will apply a geographical lens to each condition to address regional disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030. We published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023 which sets out our approach to making the choiover the next five years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer.

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