Breast Cancer: Health Services
(asked on 1st September 2025) - View Source
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 expedite decisions on access to new treatments for secondary breast cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. The NHS is legally required to fund NICE recommended medicines, normally within three months of final guidance, and cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the point of a positive draft NICE recommendation.
NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing to ensure that patients are able to benefit from rapid access to clinically and cost effective new medicines. The Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out the measures we are taking that will mean that patients are able to access medicines three to six months faster, including improved alignment between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s decisions and NICE’s guidance publication. The Life Sciences Sector Plan is published and available at the following link: