Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that expert clinicians are consulted when assessing new treatments for pancreatic cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance is based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and is developed through wide consultation with stakeholders. NICE makes every effort to ensure that appropriate stakeholders, including clinical experts, are able to engage with the development of its guidance.

As part of NICE’s technology appraisal process, clinical specialists, commissioning experts and patient experts are invited by the Appraisal Committee to provide written evidence and attend the Committee meeting to help in the Committee's discussion of the technology being appraised.

NHS England is responsible for administering the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) and decisions on which treatments are included on the national CDF list are made by the CDF clinical panel. The panel includes expert oncologists, oncology pharmacists and patient representatives.