Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve the provision of prostate radiotherapy in the NHS for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

NHS England is aware of newly published research data (STAMPEDE trial) published in the Lancet in October 2018. The article provides the results of the study which identifies a subgroup of prostate cancer patients with a newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer and with a low metastatic burden that may benefit from treatment using radiotherapy.

NHS England has received a policy proposition proposal to develop a clinical commissioning policy for this treatment and a policy working group will be established to take this forward.

The Lancet article is available at the following link:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)32486-3/fulltext