Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England data from March 2020 to September 2021 which shows that urgent suspected urology cancer referrals were at 83.5 per cent of the pre-covid-19 outbreak baseline, what steps his Department is taking to (a) raise awareness of prostate cancer amongst higher risk men and (b) help ensure that those missing from the treatment pathway are identified before their cancer has progressed to be non-curable.

The ‘Help us help you’ campaign has raised awareness of abdominal and urological symptoms and urged people to consult their general practitioner (GP). A new phase of campaign is planned for early 2022 to address some of the barriers which prevent people coming forward. The National Health Service is working with Prostate Cancer UK to raise awareness of prostate cancer risk and encourage men to use Prostate Cancer UK’s risk checker.

Primary Care Networks are working with GP practices to implement the 2021/22 Early Cancer Diagnosis Directed Enhanced Service Specification, to optimise suspected cancer referral practice, support earlier diagnosis of cancer, and identify people before their cancer has progressed to non-curable. The NHS is focusing on reducing the number of people waiting over 62 days on cancer pathways, particularly rescheduling diagnostic procedures or treatments for those whose care was delayed by the pandemic. An additional £1 billion has been made available to the NHS in 2021/22 to support the recovery of elective activity and cancer services.