Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with clinical bodies on back pain in women as a symptom of possible breast cancer.

The Department has had no discussions with clinical bodies regarding back pain in women as a symptom of possible breast cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015, to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients and urgently refer them as appropriate, where cancer including breast cancer is suspected. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold. The scopes of NICE guidelines are developed through consultation with stakeholders, including patient groups.

More generally, Wave 2 of the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate programme led by NHS England is under way, testing a new, multi-disciplinary diagnostic centre approach to diagnosing patients. The model is focused on patients with vague or unclear but concerning symptoms, to ensure they receive a diagnosis as quickly as possible. If successful, NHS England will work with Cancer Alliances to support wider roll out across the country in future years.