Health and Social Care

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

That is another example of trying to weaponise the NHS. [Hon. Members: “Answer.”] There were 700,000 more cancer patients treated in the last Parliament. Figures show that 12,000 more people are surviving cancer at the end of the last Parliament than were at the beginning. There were millions more diagnostic tests, for cancer and a range of other issues, so there is a great record here. We acknowledge—

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

rose—

[Jane Ellison]

No, I cannot give way at this moment.

The coalition Government had an excellent record on cancer. Yes, there is further to go, and that is why we have made it central to our plans. We want to see the NHS go further and faster on diagnostics. That is why NHS England has an independent taskforce looking at this issue. We got its interim report in March. We will get its final report in the summer and we will act on it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jane Ellison]

No. I shall make some more progress.

On tackling health inequalities, although I missed his speech I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Rother Valley (Kevin Barron), with whom I have made common cause on public health issues a number of times. He has been a great champion of the health inequalities agenda.

Over the past five years, we have done much to improve people’s health. In my own area we have legislated to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products and banned smoking in cars with children to protect our children from the deadly harms of tobacco. We have worked with industry to take 1.3 billion units of alcohol off our shelves, and today we had good news of another big fall in the number of under-18s being admitted to our hospitals for alcohol-related illnesses. Two thirds of products on our shelves now have colour-coded front-of-pack labelling thanks to our world-leading voluntary scheme, helping people to understand more about what is in the food and drink they consume. We also have a world-leading salt reduction programme, which has led to a fall in the number of strokes.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

The hon. Lady is talking about methods of reducing lung cancer and other cancers, which we welcome, yet one in four patients diagnosed with lung cancer and bowel cancer are waiting more than 62 days, sometimes more than four or five months, for treatment after their diagnosis. How is that tolerable?

[Jane Ellison]

The issue of people surviving cancer and getting proper treatment at the right time is something that we all feel passionately about. We inherited some of the worst cancer survival rates in the world, and the previous Government did a great deal to address that, but of course there is more to do. We have always acknowledged that there is more to do to help our health system respond to issues such as cancer. That is exactly why we are looking forward to the report in the summer from the independent cancer taskforce, which will challenge us all to go further and faster on early diagnosis and treatment.