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 recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of commissioning arrangements for (a) Molecular Radiotherapy, (b) Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy and (c) Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service delivers a range of treatments for cancer, with expert clinicians working with patients to determine the most appropriate option. The Government is working with NHS England to ensure that the most effective treatments are available to patients across the country when they need them.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is routinely available to treat several types of cancer, including some types of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer. Every NHS trust that is commissioned to provide radiotherapy services in England can offer SABR. However, not all cancer types can be treated with SABR in every radiotherapy service, because some trusts may not host the relevant specialist multi-disciplinary team.
No assessment has been made of the potential for systemic anti-cancer therapies to be delivered via primary care in the community or at home. However, in line with the Government’s Health Mission shift from hospital to community, the 10-Year Health Plan committed to deliver more urgent care in the community, in people’s homes, or through neighbourhood health centres by 2035.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 ensure that people with female reproductive systems are informed about symptoms of (a) ovarian and (b) other gynaecological cancers through NHS cervical screening programmes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England works to ensure that core public information on screening is easily accessible and understandable to the public, and it regularly and systematically reviews this information.
Earlier this year, NHS England updated its cervical screening guidance to include that cervical screening is not a check for other cancers of the reproductive system, such as ovary, womb, vulval, or vaginal cancer. This guidance is available at the following link:
The guidance advises that you should not wait to contact a general practitioner if you have any concerns.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 heart health pathways.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest data, from July 2025, shows that 61.6% of waits for cardiology services are within 18 weeks, which is a 1.7% improvement on the same month from the previous year. While this shows progress, we know there is more to do to reduce waiting times for heart health pathways. That is why, along with our commitment to returning to the 92% referral-to-treatment standard for elective care by March 2029, the Elective Reform Plan commits to significant elective reform in cardiology.
Cardiology is one of five priority specialties identified for significant elective reform in the Elective Reform Plan. Reforms will include increasing specialist cardiology input earlier in patient care pathways and developing standard and efficient care pathways for common cardiology symptoms. It also includes improving access to cardiac diagnostic tests through implementing more ‘straight-to-test’ pathways, where a general practitioner can refer a patient directly to secondary care for a test. This can reduce unnecessary outpatient appointments and improve waiting times even further for patients across England.
These improvements to common cardiology pathways help standardise patient care, reduce inequalities, and improve access to care, especially in the early stages of heart health pathways for patients across England.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including (a) prehabilitation and (b) rehabilitation as essential elements of cancer treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are taking a number of steps to support the National Health Service to deliver cost-effective prehabilitation and rehabilitation services.
NHS England has highlighted the positive impact of efficient prehabilitation and rehabilitation on cancer outcomes and the potential to lead to cost savings. The ‘PRosPer’ cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation learning programme, launched as a partnership between NHS England and Macmillan Cancer Support, aims to support allied health professionals and the wider healthcare workforce in developing their skills in providing prehabilitation and rehabilitation as essential elements of cancer treatment.
The National Cancer Plan, to be published later this year, will look at how to improve patient outcomes across the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, including prehabilitation and rehabilitation services where appropriate.
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 assessment he has made of the potential for systemic anti-cancer therapies to be delivered via primary care in the community or at home.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service delivers a range of treatments for cancer, with expert clinicians working with patients to determine the most appropriate option. The Government is working with NHS England to ensure that the most effective treatments are available to patients across the country when they need them.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is routinely available to treat several types of cancer, including some types of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer. Every NHS trust that is commissioned to provide radiotherapy services in England can offer SABR. However, not all cancer types can be treated with SABR in every radiotherapy service, because some trusts may not host the relevant specialist multi-disciplinary team.
No assessment has been made of the potential for systemic anti-cancer therapies to be delivered via primary care in the community or at home. However, in line with the Government’s Health Mission shift from hospital to community, the 10-Year Health Plan committed to deliver more urgent care in the community, in people’s homes, or through neighbourhood health centres by 2035.
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, in which NHS trusts Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy is available in England .
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service delivers a range of treatments for cancer, with expert clinicians working with patients to determine the most appropriate option. The Government is working with NHS England to ensure that the most effective treatments are available to patients across the country when they need them.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is routinely available to treat several types of cancer, including some types of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer. Every NHS trust that is commissioned to provide radiotherapy services in England can offer SABR. However, not all cancer types can be treated with SABR in every radiotherapy service, because some trusts may not host the relevant specialist multi-disciplinary team.
No assessment has been made of the potential for systemic anti-cancer therapies to be delivered via primary care in the community or at home. However, in line with the Government’s Health Mission shift from hospital to community, the 10-Year Health Plan committed to deliver more urgent care in the community, in people’s homes, or through neighbourhood health centres by 2035.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the cost savings to the NHS from the expansion of Fracture Liaison Services in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Potential cost savings to the National Health Service from the expansion of Fracture Liaison Services will be taken into consideration in future policy development.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration he has given to supporting the National Screening Committee to (a) more swiftly implement innovation within screening programmes and (b) adopt innovative new programmes once proven effective.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) and its secretariat have adopted several robust strategies that support responsiveness to innovation in screening.
The committee uses the expertise of its research and methodology group to help researchers focus the design of screening research to ensure it addresses questions in a way that is useful for screening policy. Where screening research trials are ongoing, the secretariat maintains close contact with researchers to ensure that we are proactive in response to the results coming out of the trial.
Where there are evidence gaps in screening research, in-service evaluations provide an innovative solution to generating high quality evidence for the UK NSC in live National Health Services. The UK NSC secretariat works closely with NHS England on upcoming work so that the NHS can optimise their preparations in their readiness for the implementation of recommendations agreed by ministers.
Networking across the healthcare landscape both nationally and internationally helps to ensure that the UK NSC keeps abreast of developments in screening and identifies viable innovations in tests and treatments that are suitable in the context of the United Kingdom. Collaboration between organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and professional bodies such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists supports joined up working with partners and avoids unnecessary duplication.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish the business cases developed for Neighbourhood Health Centres and the names of organisations or companies involved in their preparation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 October 2025 to Question 75637.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 (a) reduce wait times and (b) increase capacity for paediatric blood tests.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We inherited a broken National Health Service, and reducing elective waiting lists is a key part of getting it back on its feet and building an NHS that is fit for the future. To that end we have committed to achieving the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029. Cutting waiting times for diagnostic tests such as blood tests is a crucial step in reducing the elective waiting list.
Blood tests are among the most commonly requested diagnostic investigations across primary and secondary care, and they are readily available across all 27 NHS pathology networks. Phlebotomy, the procedure to collect blood samples, is widely available across general practice, community health services, and secondary care phlebotomy clinics, supporting equitable access to blood testing.
The NHS is taking steps to reduce wait times for blood tests. These include establishing more straight to test pathways, whereby a patient is referred straight to a diagnostic test without the need for an additional outpatient appointment first, as well as investing in digital pathology and automation of histopathology services to reduce the time patients wait for blood test results to be processed.
Alongside this, we are continuing to invest in expanding diagnostic capacity in the NHS. As set out in the Elective reform Plan, we plan to build up to five more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2025/26, alongside increasing the operating hours of existing sites so that more offer services 12 hours a day, seven days a week. This is backed by part of the £600 million of capital for diagnostic services announced at the October Spending Review.
CDCs offer local populations, including children, a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to home and greater choice on where and how they are undertaken. This reduces the need for hospital visits, reduces pressure on hospitals, and speeds up diagnosis. CDCs are expected to offer their services to children and young people where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Phlebotomy is a core service provided by all standard and large model CDCs.