Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of performance against the 62-day referral to treatment cancer standard in England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2024, 63.9% of patients, against the standard of 85%, received treatment within 62 days of an urgent suspected cancer or breast symptomatic referral or consultant upgrade, to a first definitive treatment for cancer. This is 1.6% higher than performance in January 2024, and 1.4% higher than the same time last year.
The pandemic and recent industrial action placed significant pressure on elective services, including cancer care. We are seeing record levels of referrals, with over 12,000 urgent referrals seen for suspected cancer per working day in February 2024.
As outlined in the 2024/25 NHS England Planning Guidance, NHS England is providing over £266 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances to support delivery of the operational priorities for cancer, which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity. The Government remains committed to continuing its recovery from the pandemic, and specifically, to reduce local and national waiting times for cancer treatment.
Written Evidence Apr. 24 2024
Inquiry: Preterm BirthFound: in a vulnerable state and it is even more vital when mothers or birthing parents are expressing breast
Written Evidence Apr. 24 2024
Inquiry: NHS leadership, performance and patient safetyFound: suggested that the UK ranked 17th out of 19 countries for life expectancy, 15th out of 18 countries for breast
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) trial and (b) roll-out early cancer screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, early cancer screening is already in place for cervical, breast, and bowel cancer. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) does not currently recommend screening for prostate cancer due to the inaccuracy of the current best test, called Prostate Specific Antigen. We are providing £16 million of funding to Prostate Cancer UK's £42 million trial, which is aimed at helping us find a way of catching prostate cancer in men as early as possible. The UK NSC is also commissioning evidence for six possible approaches to targeted prostate screening for those at higher risk. The UK NSC will publish its recommendations when complete.
NHS England is responsible for the running of the Targeted Lung Health Check Programme, and its conversion to a nationally rolled out NHS Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme by 2030.
Found: Food, diet, nutrition and cancer
Mentions:
1: Theresa Villiers (Con - Chipping Barnet) Will the Secretary of State support Breast Cancer Now’s campaign to improve the uptake of breast cancer - Speech Link
2: Victoria Atkins (Con - Louth and Horncastle) Members on both sides of the House, for further research into lobular breast cancer, because although - Speech Link
3: Lilian Greenwood (Lab - Nottingham South) House of Commons Library figures reveal that one in four women with suspected breast cancer are waiting - Speech Link
4: Preet Kaur Gill (LAB - Birmingham, Edgbaston) treatment, 33,000 women waiting more than a year, and under two thirds of eligible women screened for breast - Speech Link
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of uptake for breast cancer screenings amongst ethnic minority women.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national breast screening programme does not currently have the capability to routinely cross reference patient’s ethnicity data with uptake data. NHS England has started work to improve its data collection capabilities as part of the development of the new screening IT system, through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will support the collection of population-level data on protected characteristics such as ethnicity, to support services in improving uptake.
More widely, NHS England has developed a national plan to improve uptake, including interventions to address inequalities and screening barriers. This includes ensuring appointments are as convenient as possible, and efforts are focused on areas and groups with low uptake.
Mentions:
1: Sally-Ann Hart (Con - Hastings and Rye) Both my parents died of cancer, and I will always be grateful for the amazing care that they received - Speech Link
2: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) We have a Marie Curie hospice in Belfast that gives excellent care to those who have cancer. - Speech Link
3: Peter Gibson (Con - Darlington) It has received some non-recurrent funding through the cancer charities relief fund, but may be unable - Speech Link
4: Steve Double (Con - St Austell and Newquay) She lost her second battle with breast cancer, and the care and support that we received as a family - Speech Link
5: Andrew Gwynne (Lab - Denton and Reddish) It was 30 years ago that I lost my mum to ovarian cancer—I was 19. - Speech Link
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to breast screening for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from holding the required position for sufficient time to complete the screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving the accessibility of the screening programmes it commissions under the Public Health Services (S7a) agreement, particularly for under-served groups in society. Contractually, providers of National Health Service screening services are required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their services are accessible for people with disabilities. For example, the NHS breast screening service offers longer appointments at accessible sites to support women with physical disabilities.
Services make reasonable adjustments within the constraints of mammography equipment, to ensure that people with disabilities are offered the opportunity to have screening. However, there may be situations where this is not possible. Providers will deal with these on a case by case basis, and offer an alternative approach as necessary. For example, for women who are unable to have a mammogram, they may be offered a referral to a symptomatic breast clinic for a physical check.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that patients at high risk of developing breast cancer are recalled for MRI screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women at very high risk (VHR) of breast cancer are eligible to be screened from the age of 25 years old upwards, and should be invited every year. The screening includes mammography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), depending on age and risk criteria.
In March, NHS England wrote to a small number of VHR women who had not been referred for annual MRI surveillance, and the National Health Service has been working hard to ensure these women are checked as a matter of urgency, as described in their individual letters. To support screening of VHR women, a new central database is planned to ensure all referrals reach NHS breast screening services.