Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 provide routine access to circulating tumour DNA blood tests to support the (a) detection and (b) treatment of breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to improving faster and earlier detection of breast cancer and will work to ensure that patients have timely access to lifesaving, innovative treatments. We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over four million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment. There are no current plans to provide routine access to circulating tumour DNA blood tests.
The Government’s wider investments into breast cancer research include a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, including lobular breast cancer. We are also proud to have invested £29 million into the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden National Institute for Health and Care Research Biological Research Centre in 2022, supporting their efforts to strengthen research into cancer, including breast cancer.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spends on average per patient with secondary (metastatic) breast cancer; and if he will make a comparative assessment of the average spend per patient with primary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving the lives of those diagnosed with both primary and secondary breast cancer. The Department does not hold the information to make a comparative assessment of the average spend per patient with primary or secondary breast cancer.
Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment is a strategic priority for the National Health Service. NHS England commissioned new clinical audits on primary and metastatic breast cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments. On 12 September 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published their State of the Nation Report on breast cancer. Officials at the Department and NHS England are in the process of considering the audit’s findings and what any next steps could be. To drive up the completeness of data for breast cancer, progesterone receptor status is already collected as part of the NHS Cancer Outcomes and Services Data set. No specific breakdown is available at this time.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer will provide a specific breakdown by (a) breast cancer subtype and (b) hormone receptor status.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving the lives of those diagnosed with both primary and secondary breast cancer. The Department does not hold the information to make a comparative assessment of the average spend per patient with primary or secondary breast cancer.
Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment is a strategic priority for the National Health Service. NHS England commissioned new clinical audits on primary and metastatic breast cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments. On 12 September 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published their State of the Nation Report on breast cancer. Officials at the Department and NHS England are in the process of considering the audit’s findings and what any next steps could be. To drive up the completeness of data for breast cancer, progesterone receptor status is already collected as part of the NHS Cancer Outcomes and Services Data set. No specific breakdown is available at this time.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 the 2013 mandate to accurately collect and collate data on cancer recurrence is being fully implemented.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to ensuring that data on cancer is complete and of sufficiently high quality. The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collects recurrence data for non-primary cancers via data submissions as part of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset (COSD). The COSD has been the national standard for reporting cancer in the National Health Service in England since January 2013, and provides a helpdesk and data liaison service to support data completeness.