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, if he will take steps to ensure that the early access programme for people with Duchennes is made available across all NHS trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Access to the Early Access Programme (EAP) for givinostat must be through one of the 23 NorthStar Centres in the United Kingdom. However, participation in the EAP is decided at an individual National Health Service trust level, and a North Star Centre will not be able to provide givinostat if its local trust has not approved participation. Under the EAP, givinostat is free to both patients taking part in it and to the NHS, although the NHS trusts must still cover the cost of administering it to patients. Only Duchenne muscular dystrophy clinicians can make requests for givinostat for their patients. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis for individual named patients aligned to eligibility criteria.
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, if he will meet the hon. Member for Horsham and Dr Susan Michaelis, founder of the Lobular Moon Shot Project, to discuss his Department's work on invasive lobular breast cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health Mission sets the objective of building a National Health Service fit for the future. As part of that work, and in response to the Darzi report, we have launched an extensive programme of engagement to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts, from hospitals to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
In addition, following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will develop a new national cancer plan. The cancer plan will include more details about how to improve outcomes for all tumour types, including lobular breast cancer, and ensure that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.
We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be, and will provide updates on this, including on publication dates, at the earliest opportunity. We would encourage the Hon. Member for Horsham and Dr Michalis to input to the process, which would help to shape the national cancer plan.
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, with reference to Prostate Cancer UK's research entitled Optimising the use of the prostate- specific antigen blood test in asymptomatic men for early prostate cancer detection in primary care: report from a UK clinical consensus, published on 25 July 2024, if he will take steps to implement the recommendation on reviewing guidelines on allowing primary care staff to proactively discuss (a) prostate cancer risk and (b) prostate specific antigen testing with men at highest-risk of developing that cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee is aware of the Prostate Cancer UK report, and this will be considered as part of its evidence review process, with further information available at the following link:
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) provides general practitioners (GPs) with information and guidance to counsel men who have no symptoms, but wish to have a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. It highlights the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing so that men, including those at higher risk, can make an informed decision about whether to have the test.
Based on the current evidence, the PCRMP guidance is for GPs not to proactively offer a PSA to men without symptoms. This is because of the high level of inaccuracy of the PSA test which could lead to unnecessary tests and treatments that carry risks of life-changing harm, such as urinary and faecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, as well as a smaller but serious risk of sepsis. Additionally, some prostate cancers may not produce elevated PSA levels, leading to false-negative results that provide deceptive reassurance.