Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on the quality of life of patients of each of the existing treatment options for bladder cancer; and what assessment has been made of the adequacy of support services available to such patients.

There is currently limited information available on the long-term quality of life of patients treated for any cancer. Improving the information available was identified as a priority by the independent Cancer Taskforce in their report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes published in July 2015. In partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, NHS England is developing a new approach to data collection on Quality of Life that will inform a new Quality of Life metric. The approach will be piloted in 2017/18.

In December 2016, NHS England announced a fund of over £200 million available to Cancer Alliances over the next two years, specifically to support those areas of the Cancer Taskforce strategy that they estimated would need significant investment. This includes implementation of the Recovery Package so that patients have personalised care and support from the point they are diagnosed to improve their quality of life.