Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 increase access to weight loss injections for long-term conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Weight loss injections are currently recommended for use on the National Health Service for the treatment of obesity and/or type 2 diabetes. To be routinely used in the NHS in England, a medicine normally needs a marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that shows it is safe and efficacious, and then a positive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisal to show if it is a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE is currently developing guidance on the use of semaglutide for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and, subject to licensing, liver fibrosis, without cirrhosis, caused by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
Most recently, NICE recommended semaglutide, brand name Wegovy, and tirzepatide, brand name Mounjaro, as treatments for obesity, in adults with a high body mass index and at least one weight-related comorbidity such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and/or cardiovascular disease.
Until recently, these medicines were only available in specialist weight management services. From 23 June tirzepatide started to become available in primary care. This will help to increase access. Access is being prioritised for those with the highest clinical need first. The NHS will look at different service models including digital and community options and the roll out will be sped up if possible. As set out in the Government’s new 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to expanding access to these medicines and will work closely with industry and local systems to test new models of care and identify innovative ways to do this.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 support the implementation of innovative (a) diagnostic tools and (b) tests to help improve the speed of diagnosis of less survivable cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is carrying out work to assess the barriers of effective adoption and to improve the way diagnostic tools, including those using artificial intelligence (AI), are deployed across the National Health Service in England.
The NHS Cancer Programme’s Innovation Open Call is held to identify and support the most promising innovations and has funded cancer diagnostic innovations in areas including medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, digital health solutions, behaviour interventions, artificial intelligence, robotics, and new models of care.
There are also initiatives to improve the identification of cancer symptoms, including for less survivable cancers, in primary care. This includes Jess’s Rule, which supports clinicians to rethink their assessments when patients have presented three times with the same symptoms or concerns. Jess’s Rule was developed through a process of engagement with leading clinicians and charities.
The Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce as part of the development of the National Cancer Plan to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve the early detection of liver cancer as part of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The early diagnosis of cancers, including liver cancer, is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, in order to improve outcomes. The Department received over 11,000 responses to its call for evidence and has engaged extensively with patients, clinicians, and charities to help shape the plan’s priorities, including partners representing liver cancer charities.
In addition, the National Health Service in England and public health partners are taking immediate action to improve the early diagnosis of liver cancer.
The NHS and public health partners promote awareness of the risk factors and symptoms for liver disease and liver cancer, including through the early identification of hepatitis B and C and the management of underlying liver disease, to help reduce the risk of late diagnosis.
The NHS England cancer programme is working to detect more hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) at an early stage, when the chances of survival are higher. This includes through Community Liver Health Checks and liver primary care case finding, to identify people with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis requiring HCC surveillance. NHS England is also expanding access to diagnostic tests, including imaging and pathology, through community diagnostic centres, which have now delivered more than 8.7 million tests, checks, and scans since July 2024.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase research funding into new (a) tools and (b) other technologies for the earlier diagnosis of (i) pancreatic, (ii) lung, (iii) liver, (iv) stomach, (v) brain, (vi) oesophageal cancers and (vii) other the less survivable cancers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
An example of this is the NIHR investing £2.4 million into the miONCO-Dx trial, which seeks to develop a blood test designed to detect 12 different cancers, that could transform how cancer is diagnosed in the National Health Service.
The NIHR is also funding a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered radiology analysis service, designed to develop and evaluate the use of AI in medical imaging to improve the detection of cancers, including for lung and brain tumours. The use of this technology will help to speed up response times and provide more accurate diagnoses and better-targeted treatments, ultimately improving outcomes for patients.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of minimally invasive therapies for the less survivable cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ongoing research is exploring the potential of minimally invasive cancer therapies for less survivable cancers. This includes non-invasive liver cancer treatments that use ultrasound technology to destroy tumours without surgery, scalpels, or radiation, with minimal damage to surrounding organs.
The adoption of new treatments, including minimally invasive cancer treatments for less survivable cancers, into the National Health Service in England is generally the result of National Institution of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance and/or commissioner decisions.
The NHS has launched a new £2 million programme which is funding 300 general practices to identify pancreatic cancer early by screening high-risk patients over 60 years old with new diabetes diagnoses and unexplained weight loss for urgent testing.
Both NHS England and the integrated care boards are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE. Agreements on timelines and funding for making therapies available on the NHS can vary, with implementation supported by the service readiness assessment and the development of additional capacity where necessary.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming national cancer plan will include specific (a) targets and (b) actions for (i) brain, (ii) liver, (iii) lung, (iv) oesophageal, (v) pancreatic and (vi) stomach cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan. Having consulted with key stakeholders and patient groups, I confirm that the plan will be published early in the new year. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for patients with cancer, including less survivable cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
The Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce as part of the development of the plan to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 help ensure that people with liver (b) cirrhosis, (b) advanced liver disease and (c) those at high risk of liver cancer receive systematic (i) surveillance and (ii) early diagnosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of a program to transform liver disease outcomes we will work with partners, including the British Liver Trust, to raise awareness and address the stigma related to hazardous and harmful levels of alcohol use, obesity, and viral hepatitis, which are key drivers of liver disease.
We will improve early detection of liver disease by developing best practice diagnostic pathways for primary care with agreed common referral thresholds. This includes exploring innovative approaches to increasing early detection, such as Intelligent Liver Function Testing, and improving access to treatments for liver disease, thereby tackling health inequalities in relation to access, uptake, patient experience, and outcomes.
We will continue to reach out to the communities that are worst affected by liver disease through the Community Liver Health Checks programme to proactively identify people with undiagnosed liver disease, who are suitable for liver cancer surveillance. The number of mobile liver scanning teams has almost doubled in the last two years. Over 100,000 people have had a fibroscan of their liver, and over 8,000 have been referred on for vital liver cancer checks since the programme began.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced that a National Cancer Plan for England will be published in the new year. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experiences and outcomes for people with cancer, including for liver cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to launch public awareness campaigns to promote earlier recognition of (a) liver disease and (b) liver cancer symptoms.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Awareness of liver disease can be raised by providing information to the public and by supporting health and care professionals to discuss liver disease with their patients. The NHS.UK website provides the public with essential information on the types of liver disease, their possible causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/liver-disease/
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns in England to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point, including abdominal cancers.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including liver cancer. This information can be found at sources like the NHS.UK website, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of histotripsy treatment in the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early clinical evidence shows that histotripsy, a non-invasive focused ultrasound treatment, can safely and precisely destroy liver tumours without the need for surgery or radiation. Histotripsy remains under evaluation, and the Government continues to monitor real-world outcomes, including its effectiveness in the National Health Service. The Government is working with clinical and research experts to accelerate United Kingdom-based evidence generation to support wider NHS adoption of histotripsy.
HistoSonics developed the Edison System to delivery histotripsy, and this was selected as one of eight transformative technologies supported through the Government’s Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP) pilot, which streamlines patient access to medical devices addressing unmet clinical needs in the NHS.
Through the IDAP, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted HistoSonics an Unmet Clinical Need Authorisation (UCNA), exempting the manufacturer from certain regulatory requirements under strict conditions, allowing early market access. This authorisation is reserved for technologies that address a critical unmet clinical need and demonstrate sufficient data for safety and early effectiveness, with evidence that the manufacturer is working towards full regulatory approval. The UCNA requires ongoing reporting to the MHRA to monitor safety and performance.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with medical researchers on the development of histotripsy treatments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Histotripsy is a non-invasive ultrasound treatment that destroys tumours without the need for surgery or radiation. HistoSonics developed the Edison System to deliver histotripsy, and this was one of eight transformative technologies supported through the Government’s Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot. This programme aimed to streamline patient access to medical devices that address an unmet clinical need in the National Health Service.
In August 2024, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met with clinicians and researchers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to discuss their pioneering work in histotripsy research and trials, including the world’s first kidney tumour procedure and the HOPE4LIVER and CAIN studies.
In June 2025, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) met with clinicians and researchers at Cambridge University Hospitals to announce the conditional use of histotripsy in the NHS for patients with liver tumours. NHS treatments will begin in October 2025 as a first in Europe, strengthening the United Kingdom’s position as a global leader in medical innovation. The Government continues to work closely with clinical and research experts to accelerate evidence generation of this transformative technology.