Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that men with advanced prostate cancer have access to quality patient care and innovative treatments.

Treatment options for prostate cancer are always expanding and in February 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement’s specialised commissioning team announced that it would make available external beam radiotherapy to treat hormone sensitive, low volume prostate cancer. In addition to external beam radiotherapy, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence will review several new treatment options for prostate cancer in the next 12 months.

Following treatment for prostate cancer, patients move to a Personalised Stratified Follow-Up pathway that suits their needs and ensures they can get rapid access to clinical support where they are worried that their cancer may have recurred. This stratified follow-up approach was established in all trusts for prostate cancer in 2020. In response to the pandemic, the NHS also made available a range of ‘COVID-19 friendly’ treatments, offering benefits such as fewer hospital visits or a reduced impact on the patient’s immune system. This includes targeted hormone therapies such as enzalutamide for prostate cancer treatment.