Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the potential effect on the four-week diagnostic standard for cancer of any increase in the demand for endoscopy services; and if he will make a statement.

Health Education England has pledged to fund the training of 200 non-medical endoscopists (NMEs) to significantly increase endoscopy capacity in England. The first cohort began training at the end of January 2016 and the second in April 2016 to deliver 40 NMEs. Following a successful evaluation, a further 40 NMEs began training in January 2017.

The potential impact of the 28 day standard is being tested in five sites; Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust. Each site is working closely with their clinical commissioning group and NHS England is committed to full implementation of the standard by 2020.

NHS England recognises the current pressures on endoscopy services and the results of the pilots will inform how the new standard is designed and implemented. NHS England will evaluate the first phase of the project in spring 2017. Alongside this they are developing a new system to collect data to monitor the new standard which they expect to be available from April 2018.