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 tackle delays to (a) diagnostic referrals and (b) courses of treatment for ovarian cancer as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Health Service’s recovery approach is looking to restore urgent cancer referrals and treatment to at least pre-pandemic levels, including the 62-day pathway, and ensure sufficient capacity is available to manage increased demands in the future.

The Cancer Recovery Taskforce met for the first time in September, where they took stock of the status of cancer services against recovery metrics on referrals, treatment and backlog levels. A national recovery plan will be developed for publication shortly.