Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that irreversible electroporation for the treatment of prostate cancer is made available more widely in the NHS, following the pilot by University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

At present, nanoknife or irreversible electroporation treatment should only be provided to prostate cancer patients in the National Health Service in England as part of research studies, in line with recommendations made by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). As this procedure would fall within NHS England and NHS Improvement’s direct commissioning responsibility for specialised services, clinicians can submit new policy applications at any time, where they consider that there is clear evidence of benefit for patients.