Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve cancer waiting times in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.
The Government is committed to improving outcomes for cancer patients across England, including in Ely and East Cambridgeshire.
The Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has a strong track record in delivering the cancer performance standards over the years. There is a comprehensive action plan to address the recent deterioration in the waiting times that patients are experiencing for cancer diagnostics and treatment. This includes the provision of additional consultant appointments and theatre lists, as well as recruitment to expand capacity across a number of treatment pathways, with breast, urology, and skin cancer services identified as specific priorities to meet local needs.
A new Cancer Operational Taskforce has been launched to drive the delivery of the actions required to improve cancer waiting times for patients, including those who reside within the Ely constituency area.
The Department will publish a National Cancer Plan which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients across England, speed up diagnosis and treatment, and ensure that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.
Reducing inequalities is also a key priority for the National Cancer Plan. The plan will look at the targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival and will develop interventions to tackle these. This includes looking at protected characteristics, as well as inequalities related to socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and geographic location. We know that people living in deprived areas are less likely to have their cancers diagnosed at an early stage, when treatment can be more effective, and we want to reduce the gap in early diagnosis between those living in the richest and poorest areas through the National Cancer Plan.