Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many chemotherapy treatments were undertaken at (a) Royal Lancaster Infirmary, (b) Furness General Hospital and (c) Westmorland General Hospital in each of the last ten years.

Information on the number of cancer-related operations is not held centrally.

The information on the number of chemotherapy treatments undertaken is not available in the format requested. A count of finished consultant episodes (FCE) data with a primary diagnosis of cancer, receiving a treatment of chemotherapy is provided for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, between the years 2007-08 to 2016-17 and is attached.

Nationally there has been a continuing rise in demand for cancer services, with urgent general practitioner referrals for cancer rising by over 70,000 compared to last year.

Achieving the 62-day standard was a key objective in the Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 and this has been rolled forward into 2018-19. NHS England is investing this year in initiatives to recover and maintain the 62-day standard nationally, such as pathway coordinators and timed, standardised pathways.

The National Health Service is committed to achieving the 62-day cancer waiting times standard in 2018/19, and to maintaining performance against the other cancer waiting times standards.