NHS: Long-term Strategy

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

Again, I can understand why the hon. Gentleman does not want to talk about the performance of the Welsh Government, but I was talking about the Scottish, French and German Governments, and about the fact that the pandemic has had a severe impact across the UK and across Europe.

[Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

rose—

[Steve Barclay]

I know that the hon. Gentleman has been keen to get in, so I will give way, but then I must make some progress.

[Grahame Morris]

I am grateful to the Health Secretary for that. On the point about relative performance, I want to touch on cancer treatment capacity. Our performance as a nation is lamentable on the seven most common forms of cancer. If the buzzword is innovation, surely we have a tremendous opportunity to roll out advanced radiotherapy. About one fifth of the machines we have in our hospitals are more than the recommended limit of 10 years old. Surely that is a perfect example of a cost-effective means by which we could apply artificial intelligence and diagnostics in parallel, and we could treat many more patients and improve outcomes. Is he open to that idea?

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[Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

In the time available I will focus, laser-like, on the issue I wish to raise, which is the mismanagement of cancer care. I declare my interest as vice-chair of the all-party groups on cancer and for radiotherapy. Covid has undoubtedly compounded the pressures on our NHS, but the problems in areas such as cancer care predate the pandemic—there is no doubt about that. Radiotherapy is a vital treatment option, which already plays a part in the treatment of about four out of every 10 cancers. It is highly cost-effective—a cure typically costs between £3,000 and £7,000—but its potential is being systematically overlooked, and there has been chronic underinvestment.

Ten months ago, the previous Secretary of State for Health and Social Care declared war on cancer, but we are still waiting for the weapons to fight that war effectively. We urgently need to improve treatment capacity in radiotherapy. As I have stated, a fifth of all radiotherapy machines are more than 10 years old and will need replacing before the end of the year.

We need a better approach to funding IT, technology and networking, as that could dramatically speed up treatment processes. New immunotherapy cancer treatments often work far better in combination with radiotherapy. I ask the Minister to commit to engaging with the all-party parliamentary group for radiotherapy and with leading clinicians to develop the potential of advanced radiotherapy treatment capacity and to bring about a step change in cancer outcomes.