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 ensure that neighbourhood cancer care models in the National Cancer Plan contribute to reducing health inequalities.

Our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, is for our health system to fit around people’s lives. The Neighbourhood Health Service will mean that millions of patients are treated and cared for closer to their home by new teams of professionals, and neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services on people’s doorsteps.

It will involve care closer to the community, including a focus on prevention, as well as the redesign of outpatient and diagnostic services, and the re-design of urgent and emergency care.

In the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, we will look at how to incorporate this neighbourhood approach into cancer care. The National Cancer Plan will also set out how we will work with organisations representing communities that experience health inequalities, to help us meet the needs of all cancer patients across England.