Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will have discussions with his counterparts in the devolved administrations with the aim of replicating best practice in extending survival rates for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Research and evidence of best practice in health is shared widely across the United Kingdom. However, as health is a devolved matter Ministers do not routinely discuss health issues with their counterparts.

The Government’s Mandate to NHS England sets out an ambition to make England one of the most successful countries in Europe at preventing premature deaths from all cancers, including prostate cancer. Cancer indicators in the NHS Outcomes Framework and the Public Health Outcomes Framework will help NHS England to assess progress in improving cancer survival and mortality for men with prostate cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an updated clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in January 2014. To help reduce regional variations, the Care Quality Commission is increasingly incorporating information from accreditation and peer review programmes into its assessments of NHS trusts' services for the treatment of prostate cancer. This includes the national cancer peer review programme and the cancer patient experience survey, both of which encompass prostate cancer.

The National Prostate Cancer Audit (NCPA) First Year Annual Report was published on the 10 November 2014. The report covers the work undertaken since April 2013. It includes a preliminary analysis of the NPCA’s organisational audit, an analysis of existing data sets including patients with prostate cancer in England, and the design of the NPCA’s prospective audit dataset. The findings from the audit will contribute to changes in clinical practice ensuring that patients receive the best care possible and experience an improved quality of life.