Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take through the (a) NHS 10 Year Plan and (b) National Cancer Plan to increase levels of participation in NHS cancer screening programmes for (i) cervical, (ii) bowel, and (iii) breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service continues to prioritise improving cancer screening uptake. Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the three shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, including from sickness to prevention, to diagnose cancers earlier. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, the NHS will reach patients earlier, to catch illness before it spreads, and to prevent it in the first place.
Furthermore, in March 2025, NHS England published its Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England, setting out how the NHS will improve equitable uptake and coverage across cervical screening to meet the goal to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. Further information on the Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/cervical-cancer-elimination-by-2040-plan-for-england/
From January 2026, screening providers in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England will be able to offer human papillomavirus self-sampling kits to women if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation.
The NHS is also planning to publish a Breast Screening Programme Uptake Improvement Plan to help improve uptake and address inequalities. NHS England also launched the first ever national NHS Breast screening campaign to widespread media attention. It ran across television, radio, social media, and outdoor advertising during February and March 2025, targeting women of breast screening age, with a focus on those least likely to attend, including younger women, those in deprived areas, ethnic minorities, and disabled women.
The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. To further increase coverage, NHS England is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App and improving the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of NHS (a) operations, (b) appointments and (c) tests that took place in Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between July and November in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of additional elective appointments at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the period July to November 2023, and the corresponding period in 2024:
Time period | Elective operations | Outpatient appointments | Diagnostic tests | Total |
July to November 2023 | 18,383 | 84,742 | 47,987 | 151,112 |
July to November 2023, adjusted for working days | 18,553 | 85,527 | 48,431 | 152,511 |
July to November 2024 | 21,444 | 105,003 | 55,379 | 181,826 |
Additional appointments | 2,891 | 19,476 | 6,948 | 29,315 |
Source: NHS England
Note: These data are consistent with the publication of additional elective appointments on 16 February which includes those scope of the Value Weighted Activity metric with the key diagnostic times from diagnostic waiting times statistics. It excludes outpatient appointments without procedure and elective admissions for endoscopies to avoid double-counting of diagnostics. The scope of this data is limited to elective services consistent with consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times. It excludes emergency care, maternity and mental health services.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the length of appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) under its cost-comparison appraisal process; and whether he has plans for NICE to align the timing of the outcomes of such appraisals with that of granting of marketing authorisations by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded around the time of licensing, to support rapid patient access to clinically and cost-effective new medicines.
The NICE has introduced the cost-comparison process for the appraisal of lower risk treatments where a lighter-touch approach is considered appropriate. The cost-comparison process enables the NICE to make recommendations on medicines within 100 working days compared with 195 days for a standard appraisal, freeing up resources for more complex appraisals. In 2024, the NICE carried out appraisals through its cost-comparison process on average 83 days faster than its standard process.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for reducing waiting times for medicines assessed though the cost-comparison approach.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded around the time of licensing, to support rapid patient access to clinically and cost-effective new medicines.
The NICE has introduced the cost-comparison process for the appraisal of lower risk treatments where a lighter-touch approach is considered appropriate. The cost-comparison process enables the NICE to make recommendations on medicines within 100 working days compared with 195 days for a standard appraisal, freeing up resources for more complex appraisals. In 2024, the NICE carried out appraisals through its cost-comparison process on average 83 days faster than its standard process.