Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria is used to determine which cancer surgeries are cancelled or postponed during the covid-19 outbreak.

National Health Service staff are working to ensure that, wherever possible, cancer treatment can continue safely. Any decision to reschedule cancer surgery will be a last resort and patients will be given the dates for their new treatment at the earliest opportunity. Doctors will always have the safety of patients at the centre of any decisions they make. NHS England’s guidance for clinical staff on prioritising cancer patients is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/COVID-19/Specialty-guides/cancer-and-COVID-19.pdf