Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that cancer patients receive treatment within national target timescales in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

Cancer patients, including those in South Basildon and East Thurrock, are waiting too long for a diagnosis and treatment. We are determined to change that.

We set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform Plan. Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months and across the National Health Service, and we have already hit our target of delivering 4.5 million extra operations, scans, and appointments. This is more than double our commitment to deliver an extra two million appointments in England in our first year. The Government has invested £70 million of central funding to replace radiotherapy machines, to ensure the most advanced treatment is available to the patients who need it. The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, the local provider for cancer services in the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, has been awarded funding for a replacement machine.

Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer.

Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years. To do this, we will deliver targeted improvements and interventions, drive research and innovation, focus on prevention, and ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.