Brain Tumour Survival Rates

Peter Prinsley Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

It is an honour to speak in this debate. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) and the hon. Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard) for securing it. We have heard many fine and very heartfelt speeches this evening, particularly those recounting personal stories about Members’ families.

Our new cancer strategy was announced last week. Sadly, political events of the past few days have somewhat submerged its importance, but we should be talking about it, as it is much the most important political development as far as I am concerned. We have seen little progress in brain tumour care—that is the truth of the matter. Those tumours are devastating; they rob victims of years of life, and wreck families. I have seen such patients over the years, and I can say that diagnosis may be very difficult, even with the help of hindsight.

An average general practitioner will see a new brain tumour once every seven years, but they will see thousands of patients in that time, so it is not surprising that the tumours are difficult to diagnose. I hear that a patient with a brain tumour will often have visited their general practitioner five or six times before a diagnosis is made. We must do what we can to raise awareness. In ear, nose, and throat care—which, as Members may know, is my specialty—we see a condition called acoustic neuroma. It is a brain tumour on the nerves that lie between the ear and the brain—the balance nerves. Such tumours are rare, even in ear, nose and throat clinics. I would see only a handful of them each year. Sometimes they present with a little hearing loss in one ear, or with just a little ringing. Sometimes they present incidentally.

Some of the other brain tumours we see in the ENT world are very rare. One that sits in the roof of the nose —an olfactory neuroblastoma—is so rare that I probably saw fewer than six or seven cases throughout my career, yet it presents with a loss of sense of smell, which is a very common problem for people who come to see ear, nose and throat surgeons or general practitioners. We must not deceive ourselves that we are dealing with an easy condition, for this is a difficult one.

I believe that we must support research into these mysterious diseases. As I have said before in this Chamber, this country is desperately short of medical researchers and clinical academics. Many of our clinical academics are getting towards the end of their careers, and we are not doing enough to recruit new academics in the early part of theirs. I would like us to think about what policies we might develop to encourage that—this is a political problem. My hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden said that given we have made so little progress, we must be content with the status quo. I beg to differ; we are not content with the status quo, and that is why we are all here this evening to discuss this matter.

We know that this is a promising time for some areas of medical research. Genetic research, for instance, is now becoming very important. I am not sure that whole genome sequencing, if that were available for everybody, would solve the problem, but it is the way we are going. Before I came to this place, I was involved in research into a rare ear disease called cholesteatoma. We did genetic research on that—genome sequencing—and we were able to identify some of the genes that probably cause the condition, but that does not make it any easier for us to prevent it, for we cannot choose our genetic code.

The problem with brain tumours is that they are deep-seated and inaccessible. We cannot see them or feel them, which is why curative approaches are so elusive. We can debate this in the Chamber until the cows come home, but that debate will not bring the cure, so we must decide what politically we can do to help. I welcome the £32 million boost to brain cancer research, and our new approach to clinical trials. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for his Rare Cancers Bill, and I congratulate him on getting it to advance so far. Like me, he is a new Member of Parliament, and I am in awe that you have managed—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

He has managed—not “you”.

[Peter Prinsley]

Yes, I am in awe that my hon. Friend has managed to achieve so much; you see, Madam Deputy Speaker, I am a new Member of Parliament!

Let us encourage clinical trials, for as Lord Vallance has said:

“Clinical trials are the route by which promising research can be turned into treatments”,

which will save lives.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Johnson]

My right hon. Friend invites me to speak outside my area of expertise; I am afraid I do not know the answer to that.

[Peter Prinsley]

Will the shadow Minister take an intervention?

[Dr Johnson]

I will, particularly if the hon. Gentleman has an answer for my right hon. Friend.

[Peter Prinsley]

I cannot understand how there can be a relationship between head injury and brain tumour. Repeated injury causes some neurological conditions, particularly for footballers, whom we see getting early dementia, but I do not see a connection between head injury and brain tumour. Does the shadow Minister?

[Dr Johnson]

It is certainly something that I have read about. I am happy to be corrected by the hon. Gentleman if he feels that my resources are incorrect, but that was certainly one of the suggestions for how to prevent these tumours. I do not think that prevention will necessarily be the major way in which we improve the survival rate. I also do not think that it will be early diagnosis, but I would like to finish talking about that. Regular screening for people with genetic disorders can really help to identify tumours early, and the second thing that can help is access to diagnostic tests. The Conservative Government introduced community diagnostic centres across the country, which increased the number of scanners available to those who needed a scan to identify whether they had a brain tumour. This Government have said that they will double the number of scanners available. Can the Minister comment on whether they are on track with that?

We need the workforce plan, so that we have the people to perform and interpret the scans. I do not know whether the Minister has had any tips on whether the workforce plan is imminent, but can he give us a date for when it is likely to be published? It has been delayed, but it is important. We have the cancer plan, but so much of it is dependent on the workforce plan. Thirdly, opticians have a role to play. Since a South Tees project pioneered in 2015, opticians have been able, during regular eye tests, to identify people who have signs of brain tumours, and to refer them, when necessary. Encouraging people to get regular eye tests may contribute to early diagnosis.

The fourth thing that can help with early diagnosis is symptom awareness—among both the general public and healthcare professionals. I want to talk about HeadSmart, a 2011 programme about the types of symptoms that could help identify a brain tumour. It had quite significant cut-through with both healthcare professionals and the public. It halved the time for a scan, and for diagnosis of children with brain tumours. It also improved the cognition of survivors, but it did not significantly improve the survival rate. While early diagnosis helps a bit, it is very difficult—particularly in children, who are quite neuroplastic, so symptoms appear quite late. The location and type of tumour are more important in the treatment and prognosis, and there are many different types. That makes this area of medicine extremely complicated, so I think the answer is that we need better treatments.

Treatments currently include steroids, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, but there are many others with promise. Convection-enhanced delivery enables chemotherapy to be delivered across the blood-brain barrier more effectively. Many hon. Members have talked about freezing, and last month there was a debate on the topic of freezing brain tumour samples; does the Minister have an update following that debate? His colleague, the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), said that she would look at the detail and report back, so I hope that he will have an update for us this evening. Gene therapy has also shown a lot of promise, and there has been talk this evening about the trial in which an adeno-associated virus is used as a vector to seek out the glioblastoma cells and use the patient’s immune system to kill the tumour cells. That trial has promise; if it works, it could lead to real improvements in treatment.

Research will be key. BioNTech’s 2023 partnership promised that there would be 10,000 patients in cancer vaccine trials by 2030, but new innovators face barriers. This is a global fight; work is going on right across the globe, and we need to make the UK’s environment one that stimulates and supports research, so that British people can have the earliest possible access to the newest treatments. At the moment, the wider economic picture for research is not great, and we have seen some researchers pull out of investments in the UK. Taxation, national insurance, employment rules and the speed of adoption by the NHS are all factors that I hope the Minister will try to improve.

The hon. Members for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) and for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about the devolved Administrations. Could the Minister comment on how he and his team are working with those Administrations to encourage research right across the United Kingdom? I also wanted to talk about rural areas, because it is all very well encouraging trials in the UK or England, but so many of those trials are in the centre of London, or in the other big cities; it is much more difficult for people living in rural areas, such as my constituents in Sleaford and North Hykeham, to access them. Could the Minister please update the House on how he is making it easier for research to occur in rural spots?

The hon. Member for Witney summed it up perfectly when he said that ambition is important, but actions, not words, are the key. We need specific, measurable targets, not just warm words—this Government have been very good at warm words on health, but much poorer on delivery. For the sake of the one in two people who will get cancer, and all their friends and loved ones, I hope that on this occasion, there is more action, not just words.