Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to review the effectiveness of diagnostic pathways for brain tumours.

The Department is working with NHS England in taking steps to improve diagnostic processes in the National Health Service for all patients with cancer, including those with brain tumours.

We will get the NHS diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, which will ultimately improve patient outcomes and their experience throughout their treatment pathway. To do this, we will address the challenges in diagnostic waiting times. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over three million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster diagnosis.

In developing the National Cancer Plan, we will consider how we can streamline cancer pathways, including for diagnosis and treatment. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with brain cancer.