Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include a framework for neighbourhood cancer care within the national cancer plan.

Bringing cancer care into the Neighbourhood Health Service is an important part of our forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, enabling cancer patients to be treated and cared for closer to home.

The National Cancer Plan will seek to make cancer care easier, more local, and more responsive. Rather than requiring endless trips to hospitals, cancer care will happen as locally as it can. This means digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and in a hospital if necessary. As a larger proportion of England’s population survives cancer, this new model offers the potential for a higher quality of life, so that people in England to live longer, better lives after cancer diagnosis.

We know that currently cancer patients in England face a range of inequalities in access to cancer care. The National Cancer Plan will set out how we will work with organisations representing communities that experience health inequalities, to ensure that cancer care in neighbourhoods and other settings meets the needs of all cancer patients across England.