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 improve (a) early intervention and (b) treatment outcomes for ovarian cancer.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service in catching cancer, including ovarian cancer, as early as possible, to treat it faster and more effectively, and thereby improve outcomes. This is supported by the NHS’s current key ambition on cancer, to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 to 75%, to improve treatment outcomes and survivorship.

To improve early intervention, NHS England is running the Help Us, Help You (HUHY) campaign, which was relaunched on 8 January 2024. The HUHY campaign seeks to address the barriers that are deterring patients from accessing the NHS. The current HUHY campaign is focused on addressing fear of cancer as a barrier to presentation across all cancer types.

The NHS Cancer Programme has commissioned six new cancer clinical audits, which includes ovarian cancer, to provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first outcomes are expected this September 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Leukaemia UK on publication of a cancer strategy.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has not had discussions with Leukaemia UK regarding the publication of a cancer strategy. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, sets out the National Health Service’s current key ambitions on cancer. The plan sets out the NHS ambition to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 to 75%, to increase the number of people surviving cancer for five years by 55,000 as a result.

Professor Lord Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a cancer plan that (a) increases (a) radiotherapy and (b) other services.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Professor Lord Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the National Health Service, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course. The Government’s Health Mission will aim to make progress against major diseases, including cancer.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has taken steps to increase workforce capacity for (a) cancer care and (b) radiotherapy treatment services.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is working closely with NHS England to make sure we have the right workforce with the right skills up and down the country. This includes cancer care and radiotherapy treatment services.

As well as increasing the workforce, we will also be treating staff with the respect they deserve, improving their working conditions, and reforming the way they deliver care, so they deliver more care in the community and more preventative care.

We are committed to training the staff we need to get cancer patients seen on time. The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it.

In March 2024 there were over 35,400 full-time equivalent staff working across the key cancer-facing professions of clinical oncology, gastro-enterology, medical oncology, histopathology, clinical radiology, diagnostic and therapeutic radiography.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the evaluation of non-specific pathways will include granular blood cancer data.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Raising awareness, delivering more research, including into new treatments, and improving early diagnosis of cancers, which includes blood related cancers such as leukaemia, are crucial for improving cancer survival.

NHS England has implemented non-symptom specific pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations thereof, that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. Using its national evaluation, NHS England has determined that blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to develop a best practice pathway for (a) leukaemia and (b) other blood cancers.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has implemented non-symptom specific pathways for patients who present with symptoms that can indicate several different cancers, including leukaemia. An NHS England national evaluation showed blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistent publication of data on waiting times for (a) leukaemia and (b) other cancer treatments.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Cancer waiting time data is collected by NHS England according to three performance standards: the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), which aims to ensure patients have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days of referral from a general practice or screening service; the 31-day wait from a decision to treat to first or subsequent treatment of cancer combined standard; and the 62-day referral to first definitive treatment for cancer combined standard.

Data can then be broken down by cancer type. For the FDS, data regarding leukaemia and its sub-types is collected using the following two categories, suspected acute leukaemia and suspected haematological malignancies, excluding acute leukaemia. The latter category includes non-acute leukaemia when there is a suspicion. These statistics are published monthly and are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve pancreatic cancer outcomes.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is working with NHS England to deliver interventions to improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer across England. Early diagnosis is imperative to improving outcomes for all types of cancer, especially pancreatic due to the non-specific nature of its symptoms. As the first step to ensuring faster diagnosis and treatment, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.

For pancreatic cancer specifically, NHS England is providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer. NHS England is additionally creating pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms, and is increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.

Additionally, the Getting it Right First-Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight good practice and actions National Health Service providers need to take to improve services. NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer, aiming to provide regular and timely evidence to cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.

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 improve the early (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is delivering a range of interventions that are expected to improve early diagnosis and treatment for patients with suspected and diagnosed pancreatic cancer. For early diagnosis, this includes providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those patients at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer, and diagnose cancers sooner. New pathways are being created to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types. General practice direct access to diagnostic tests is also being increased.

To improve the consistency of access to treatments, NHS England is funding an audit into pancreatic cancer which aims to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first report is expected in October 2024.

NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time programme has also appointed a team of five specialist clinicians to lead a national review into services for pancreatic cancer patients in England. The workstream supports the delivery of the Optimal Care Pathway, a Pancreatic Cancer UK-led initiative which has brought together 300 health professionals and people affected to agree on how standards of diagnosis, treatment, and care of those patients with pancreatic cancer and their families can be improved, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) access to radiotherapy cancer treatment and (b) overall cancer treatment waiting times are within the scope of the independent investigation of NHS performance led by Professor Lord Darzi.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Professor Lord Darzi of Denham to conduct an immediate and independent investigation of the National Health Service. Professor Lord Darzi will be considering data and intelligence across a broad range of measures, assessing patient access to healthcare, the quality of healthcare being provided, and the overall performance of the health system. Full Terms of Reference for the review can be found on GOV.UK website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commission a strategy on the (a) research, (b) diagnosis and (c) management of cancer.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Long-Term Plan published in January 2019 sets out the National Health Service’s key ambitions on cancer, including acknowledging the importance of research and cancer management. The Plan also sets out the NHS ambition to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stage one and two to 75% by 2028 and to increase the number of people surviving cancer for five years by 55,000 as a result.

Lord Ara Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve outcomes for patients who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is working with NHS England to deliver interventions to improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer across England. Early diagnosis is imperative to improving outcomes for all types of cancer, especially pancreatic due to the non-specific nature of its symptoms. As the first step to ensuring faster diagnosis and treatment, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week. For pancreatic cancer specifically, NHS England is providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk to identify lesions before they develop into cancer. NHS England is additionally creating pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms, and is increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.

Additionally, the Getting it Right First-Time (GIRFT) team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight good practice and actions National Health Service providers need to take to improve services. NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer, aiming to provide regular and timely evidence to cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of people that have been (a) diagnosed with and (b) treated for bladder cancer in the last 12 months.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson

Whilst the Department will not make a specific estimate, the following link shows the number of diagnoses of bladder cancer in England for 2019 and 2020, the most recent years for which NHS Digital holds publicly available data:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2020/cancer-diagnoses-in-2020

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the first quarterly report of the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer, published on 10 April, what steps they are taking to address gaps in data collection for secondary breast cancer patients.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints NHS England have received relating to the adequacy of bowel care provided to people with neurogenic bowel disorders in the last 12 months; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that patients receive (a) timely and (b) appropriate care.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson

NHS England has not received any direct complaints relating to the adequacy of bowel care provided to people with neurogenic bowel disorders resulting from a spinal cord injury in the last 12 months. Complaints about clinical care should be directed to the hospital providing the care, which would be able to conduct the necessarily investigations.

To help ensure that patients with neurogenic bowel receive timely and appropriate care, NHS England has developed a range of guidance, including its Excellence in Continence Care guidance. NHS England has also published a service specification for spinal cord injury services, which makes specific reference to bowel care. It outlines that patients with spinal injury should be provided with advice and care by specialist nursing staff in specialist fields, including in the field of bladder and bowel management. In addition, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on faecal incontinence set out the care that patients with neurogenic bowel should receive, including a neurological bowel management programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the collection and reporting of ethnicity data for breast cancer patients to support understanding of variations in outcomes and patient experience of NHS care.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

Reducing inequalities and improving breast cancer outcomes for ethnic minority women is a priority for the Government. To support this work, NHS England has commissioned six new cancer clinical audits, which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatments and outcomes for patients, including for breast cancer. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first outcomes are expected in September 2024.

NHS England is also leading a programme of work to tackle healthcare inequalities centred around five clear priorities, which are set out in the operational planning guidance for the health system. The Core20PLUS5 approach proactively targets groups that are less likely to engage with services in the most deprived quintile of the population, along with ethnic minority communities and inclusion health groups, across five clinical areas which includes early cancer diagnosis, specifically screening and early referral.

The issue of improving equality monitoring, by reference to ethnicity and the other eight protected characteristics, is being considered at a national level under the programme called the Unified Information Standard for Protected Characteristics (UISPC). Evaluating the use of the 2021 ethnicity census categories is part of this programme. The UISPC Publication Steering Group is reporting to NHS England and the Department this year, which will inform a view on the next steps, including any plans for publication and consultation, and an implementation timetable. Preparatory work has been undertaken by NHS England that would facilitate the introduction of the 2021 ethnicity codes, should a decision be made to adopt the 2021 ethnicity census codes, or to implement an alternative approach to ethnicity, if recommended.

NHS England’s operational planning guidance recognises the importance of improving the quality of data for patient characteristics. This is one of the five strategic priorities in their drive to reduce healthcare inequalities, as improved data quality will help to reveal health inequalities and inform action to address them. NHS England has therefore asked systems to continue to improve the collection and recording of ethnicity data across primary care, outpatients, accident and emergency, mental health, community services, and specialised commissioning.

NHS England’s National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collects ethnicity data for all cancer patients through a variety of routine, national data feeds, including the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset, Hospital Episode Statistics data, and Patient Administration System data. The NDRS publishes key performance indicator data on the national registration statistics for England. The latest published indicator data, for invasive cancer cases excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, diagnosed in 2020, shows that ethnicity data is complete for 94.9% of cases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people diagnosed with cancer underwent a needs assessment and were given a personalised care and support plan in (1) 2021, (2) 2022, and (3) 2023.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The information is not available, as the data is not collected in the format requested.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who completed cancer treatment were offered an 'end of treatment summary' in (1) 2021, (2) 2022, and (3) 2023.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The information is not available, as the data is not collected in the format requested.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure equity and quality in care and support across the entire cancer pathway, including (1) fairness and equity in diagnostics, (2) on time treatment, and (3) patients being offered conversations about the additional care and support they may need.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department is taking steps to ensure equity and quality in care and support for patients is available across the entire cancer pathway. Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer diagnosis and treatment are a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as this is a key contributor to reducing cancer health inequalities. The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care, and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity. As part of this, we are increasing diagnostic capacity by rolling out community diagnostic centres across England, with capacity prioritised for cancer checks. Additionally, and as outlined in the 2024/25 NHS England Planning Guidance, NHS England is providing over £266 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances, to support delivery of the operational priorities for cancer.

The Department's ministers and officials frequently meet with key stakeholders within the cancer community, including discussions on support for patients and their families. The National Health Service provides personalised cancer care and support plans, to support both patients and their families at all stages of their cancer journey. This is being delivered in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer, and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support.

General practice surgeries also conduct cancer care reviews at regular intervals after cancer diagnosis, to offer support with any needs patients may have. This includes providing access to other specialist-led services who work alongside patients’ medical teams, to support patients and their families, such as counsellors, rehabilitation specialists, or social prescribers, who can connect you to community groups or services for more support.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met, including for cancer patients. NHS England provides access to a personal health budget, which is an amount of NHS money that is allocated to support the health and wellbeing needs of a patient, if eligible.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to meet their target of 96 per cent of cancer patients receiving treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

Tackling cancer is a key priority for the Government. Ministers and officials continue to work closely with NHS England to increase positive outcomes for all cancer types. The Government has allocated an additional £8 billion across this Spending Review period, to increase capacity and support elective recovery.

As outlined in the 2024/25 NHS Planning Guidance, NHS England are providing over £266 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances to support delivery of the operational priorities for cancer, increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity.

We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there were over 35,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of over 13,300, or 60.7%, since January 2010. This includes over 8,100 FTE consultants in January 2024, an increase of over 3,300, or 69.6%, since January 2010.