Radiotherapy

(asked on 4th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England's Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Radiotherapy Services Needs Assessment and Service Review published in November 2014, section 96, if he will ensure that NHS England's proposals to use modified Linacs to supplement highly specialised stereotactic radiotherapy provision (a) comply with national recommendations that a minimum number of 25 patients is treated each year and (b) do not reduce patient access to the conventional radiotherapy the Linacs are designed to provide.


Answered by
 Portrait
Jane Ellison
This question was answered on 7th November 2014

NHS England’s review is concerned with assessing and meeting the need for the treatment of intracranial conditions with SRS/SRT; fractionated extracranial radiotherapy and Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) are not included in the review.

The two activity scenarios in the consultation document assume a significant growth in treatment rates. Scenario A is based on the level of need identified in the NHS England Clinical Commissioning Policies, whilst scenario B is based on an expected growth demand based on the treatment rates of some other European countries. The relative merits of these two scenarios are laid out from page eight of the consultation document

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/options-for-change/supporting_documents/srssrtconsultguide021114.pdf

NHS England’s reasons for recommending scenario A with a seven-day working week, ‘Option 2’, is set out in their report as follows:

“SCOG [the Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group] decided on Option 2 as the preferred option as it is based on seven-day working, which aligns to the national strategic direction of moving towards seven-day service provision. Additionally, the risk of overcapacity is minimised if clinical trends change more slowly than expected because the centres providing the service could revert to fewer days per week. The avoidance of machines lying idle 2/7ths of the week will ensure best price for the NHS. Option 2 could be superseded by further expansion of national capacity should the activity levels increase beyond those described in Scenario A.”

“It was recognised that in planning for Option 2, future increases in capacity would still be possible should activity levels rise beyond those described in Scenario A, in order to mitigate any risk of future under-capacity”

The national recommendation that a minimum number patients be treated each year relates specifically to Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) which is out of the scope of this consultation.

NHS England's Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Radiotherapy Services Needs Assessment and Service Review is currently subject to an ongoing public consultation, which closes on 26 January 2015. NHS England would welcome any detailed comments being fed directly into the consultation process, including on data sources. Comments can be made at this link:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/options-for-change

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