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 reduce waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of ovarian cancer.

We are committed to reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including for ovarian cancer. We will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography.

The Government is investing an extra £26 billion in the NHS and opening up community diagnostic centres (CDCs) at evening and weekends, to help diagnose cancer earlier. We are now delivering additional checks, tests and scans at 170 CDCs.

Furthermore, NHS England has completed the national roll-out of Non-Specific Symptom pathways to support faster diagnosis of cancer in patients who present with symptoms that do not align with a single cancer site.

We have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, having now delivered over five million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and improving this country’s cancer survival rates.

Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years. To do this, we will deliver targeted improvements and interventions, drive research and innovation, focus on prevention, and ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.