Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle inequalities in prostate cancer outcomes.

The Department is not currently taking specific steps with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle inequalities in prostate cancer outcomes, but is tackling inequalities for all cancer outcomes. Experience and access is a key focus for everyone as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The NHS Long Term Plan states that ‘where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support’.

A pancreatic cancer clinical audit, led by the Royal College of Surgeons, began in 2021, with the first outcomes expected in 2024. A key aim of the audit is to support National Health Service services to stimulate improvements in cancer detection, treatment and outcomes for patients, including improving survival rates.