Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make it easier for people who cannot take time off work to attend cancer screenings.

Improving access to cancer screening programmes is one of NHS England’s key priorities. To help deliver this, plans for improving uptake in cancer screening during 2019-20 have been developed and shared with regional Public Health Commissioning leads for consideration and action. Plans cover opportunities for improving access that can be implemented locally and regionally in collaboration with charities, third sector organisations, and other parts of the National Health Service. These opportunities include:

Increasing flexibility within existing services (e.g. extending out of hours appointments and making greater use of mobile screening units); and

Improving accessibility to cancer screening via alternative settings (e.g. integrated in sexual health clinics).

In addition to this, Professor Richards’ review of national adult screening programmes, published on 16 October, made a number of recommendations on increasing uptake and accessibility, including how we use financial incentives to promote out of hours and weekend appointments. Professor Richards called for more convenience with regard to screenings, saying patients should be able to choose appointments close to their work, and local screening services should put on extra evening and weekend appointments for breast, cervical and other cancer checks. The report also called for more to be done to drive uptake through social media campaigns and text reminders. The Department, NHS England and Public Health England will consider the recommendations of Professor Richards’ report and publish an implementation plan early next year.