Health: Secondary Care

Lord Sharkey Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point. We know that GPs in many areas of the country are under pressure and we know how hard they are working. It was with that knowledge that we agreed with the profession that we would remove from the GP contract for 2014-15 more than a third of the quality and outcomes framework’s indicators, which GPs told us were taking up too much time and resulting in a bureaucratic burden. The aim of that was to free up more time for GPs. On top of that we have the Prime Minister’s challenge fund of £50 million, which will test out new ways for GPs to give access to patients—for example, through innovative means such as Skype and e-mail.

[Lord Sharkey (LD)]

My Lords, early treatment is key to improving our low cancer survival rates. Lung cancer remains the biggest cancer killer. It has a 5% 10-year survival rate and 33% of all cases are emergency presentations. What progress has been made on improving early diagnosis?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend is right. This is absolutely central to raising our performance as a country in successfully treating cancer. We are doing several things. We have piloted a tool to help GPs to identify patients whom they might not otherwise refer urgently for suspected cancer. The tool covered lung cancer, as well as others. Across England, 502 GP practices took part in the pilot. Initial indications are that the tool is extremely helpful. There is also an e-learning tool that offers accredited professional development for GPs. The Royal College of General Practitioners has also identified cancer as an enduring priority. It is working with Cancer Research UK and other partners in promoting models of best practice.