Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the use of the capsule sponge test to detect oesophageal cancer.

NHS England commissioned an evaluation to assess the impact of the capsule sponge test in secondary care, for patients on a routine reflux pathway. The evaluation report was completed in September 2023 and the national pilot will conclude in March 2024.

On 26 February 2024, NHS England published the results of the capsule sponge test pilot for secondary care routine reflux and Barrett’s surveillance cohort, which began in January 2021, and launched at 30 hospitals across England. The pilot tested over 8,500 patients with the capsule sponge test. Evaluation of a cohort of patients showed almost eight out of 10 patients, who completed a test, were discharged without the need for further testing, freeing up endoscopy capacity for higher risk patients and those referred for urgent tests for oesophageal cancer. Patients with positive results from the capsule sponge test who were referred on for an endoscopy had the highest prevalence of Barrett’s oesophagus, at 27.2%, compared to zero patients with negative results who completed an endoscopy.

NHS England has not committed to national uptake of capsule sponge, but will continue to support integrated care boards (ICBs) and local systems to deliver in their area. The evaluation report was published and shared with local National Health Service systems including Cancer Alliances, NHS providers, and ICBs to support with local service provision. The evaluation findings should be interpreted and used locally, based on need.

NHS England is continuing to explore other capsule sponge use cases, including in primary and community care settings jointly funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Cancer Research UK. Separately to this, the CYTOPRIME2 project is funded through the NHS Cancer Programme’s Innovation Open Call and is assessing the feasibility and safety of using capsule sponge in a primary care setting, and evaluating key outcome metrics.