Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Cancer Plan will include specific actions to deliver neighbourhood cancer care close to home, particularly for those in rural or underserved areas.

Bringing cancer care into the Neighbourhood Health Service is an important part of our forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, enabling cancer patients to be treated and cared for closer to home.

The National Cancer Plan, which will be published early this year, will seek to make cancer care easier, more local, and more responsive. Rather than requiring endless trips to hospitals, cancer care will happen as locally as it can. This means digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and in a hospital if necessary. As a larger proportion of England’s population survives cancer, this new model offers the potential for a higher quality of life, so that people in England to live longer, better lives after cancer diagnosis.