Found: Expanding equitable access to minimally invasive cancer therapies (MICT) such as Selective Internal

Found: FCR0072 - Future cancer All-Party Parliamentary Group on Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies Written

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to increase the availability of non-invasive cancer treatment technologies.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service continues to increase investment in minimally invasive cancer therapies, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy services. Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS from 2022 to 2025.

The adoption of new treatments, including increasing the number of minimally invasive cancer treatments and technologies, into the NHS in England is generally the result of National Institution of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance and commissioner decisions. Both NHS England and integrated care boards are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE.

Where treatments are approved by NICE through the Technology Appraisals programme, the National Health Service is required to make them available within agreed timescales, which vary by technology. Implementation of any NICE approvals will be supported by the service readiness assessment and the development of additional capacity where necessary.

NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning team has been undertaking work to expand the number of providers offering minimally invasive cancer therapies, such as selective internal radiation therapy. The market engagement and Prior Information Notice aspects of this have now been completed, with regional teams now putting in place the necessary contractual arrangements with NHS trusts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase awareness of minimally invasive cancer therapies among (a) healthcare professionals and (b) patients.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises that for some cancer patients, minimally invasive cancer therapies have the potential to improve recovery, reduce the length of bed stays in hospital, and produce fewer side effects from treatment. However, cancer patients will often have a range of treatment choices available to them. It is important that informed decisions are taken by each patient, in consultation with their treating clinician, following the advice of multi-disciplinary teams that are expert in the management of cancer. Promotion of one approach would not be appropriate for each patient, so awareness campaigns are not normally undertaken by the Department and the National Health Service.

The adoption of new treatments, including minimally invasive cancer treatments, into the NHS in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and/or commissioner decisions. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/published

For treatments that form part of a prescribed specialised or highly specialised service, NHS England’s specialised commissioning function is responsible for putting in place access. For treatments that are not part of a prescribed specialised service, the responsibility sits with integrated care boards (ICBs). Both NHS England and ICBs are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE. Pharmaceutical companies are also able to accelerate access to new treatments and technologies through schemes like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, Project Orbis or The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, enabling patients to benefit from innovative treatments quickly.

Looking ahead, from April 2024, ICBs will become the responsible commissioner for several specialised services and will want to work with and through local Cancer Alliances to plan and organise access to care for their populations that meets national standards. By integrating the commissioning of specialised and non-specialised services, ICBs will be able to join-up care around patient needs and invest resources where they can have best effect on outcomes, including any decisions on minimally invasive cancer therapies.

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 increase public awareness of minimally invasive cancer therapies.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department and NHS do not normally undertake public awareness campaigns on treatments and therapies. This is because cancer patients will often have a range of treatment choices available to them and it is important that informed decisions are taken by each patient, in consultation with their treating clinician, following the advice of multi-disciplinary teams that are experts in the management of cancer.

Instead, the Department and the NHS’s focus is on early diagnosis, including raising awareness of cancer symptoms and encouraging people to come forward through public awareness campaigns such as ‘Help us, help you’. By encouraging earlier diagnosis, cancer patients will have a wider range of treatment options available to consider, including minimally invasive therapies where appropriate.

The adoption of new treatments, including minimally invasive cancer treatments, into the NHS in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and/or commissioner decisions. For treatments that form part of a prescribed specialised or highly specialised service, NHS England’s specialised commissioning function is responsible for putting in place access. For treatments that are not part of a prescribed specialised service, the responsibility sits with integrated care boards (ICBs). Both NHS England and ICBs are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE. Pharmaceutical companies are also able to accelerate access to new treatments and technologies through schemes like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, Project Orbis or The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, enabling patients to benefit from innovative treatments quickly.

Looking ahead, from April 2024, ICBs will become the responsible commissioner for a number of specialised services and will want to work with and through local Cancer Alliances to plan and organise access to care that meets national standards. By integrating the commissioning of specialised and non-specialised services, ICBs will be able to join-up care around patient needs and invest in resources where they can have best effect on outcomes.

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 increase the availability of non-invasive cancer treatment technologies in the NHS.

Answered by Will Quince

The adoption of new treatments, including increasing the number of minimally invasive cancer treatments, into the National Health Service in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and commissioner decisions. Both NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE.

Where treatments are approved by NICE through the Technology Appraisals programme, the NHS is required to make them available within agreed timescales, which vary by technology. Implementation of any NICE approvals will be supported by the service readiness assessment and the development of additional capacity where necessary.

The NHS continues to increase investment in minimally invasive cancer therapies and radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS from 2022 to 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department has provided to NHS trusts to help ensure that non-invasive cancer treatments take place before patients’ conditions worsen.

Answered by Will Quince

The National Health Service continues to increase investment in minimally invasive cancer therapies and radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS from 2022 to 2025.

In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced that it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer, which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.

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 provision of cancer treatment.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service is making progress in delivering the Long Term Plan commitments for cancer by making innovative treatments available to people with cancer quickly. The Cancer Drugs Fund continues to provide patients with innovative drugs and since 2016 has helped over 90,000 patients, with 102 medicines treating 243 different cancers having received funding. The NHS continues to increase investment in minimally invasive cancer therapies and radiotherapy and chemotherapy services.

Earlier this year the Government launched a Vaccine Taskforce-style approach for cancer research and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care signed a memorandum of understanding with BioNTech to bring innovative vaccine research to England. In 2023/24, NHS England will continue to make investments in education and training to increase capacity in the cancer workforce, building on the £81 million invested in 2022/23.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps with NHS England to help support NHS trusts to make contractual arrangements for minimally invasive cancer therapies.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England commissions selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) as a treatment choice for patients with unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in accordance with Technology Appraisal 688 and metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), in accordance with an NHS England clinical commissioning policy.

In total, following regional completion of contractual negotiations and changes, we expect that there will be 19 providers of SIRT in the National Health Service in England. Nine will offer SIRT as a treatment for both HCC and mCRC, a further nine will offer SIRT as a treatment for HCC only and a single provider will offer SIRT as a treatment for mCRC.

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 making to ensure there is sufficient infrastructure in Cancer Alliances to help deliver minimally invasive cancer therapies across England.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England’s specialised commissioning team have been undertaking work to expand the number of providers offering minimally invasive cancer therapies, such as selective internal radiation therapy.

The market engagement and Prior Information Notices have now been completed, with regional teams now putting in place the necessary contractual arrangements with National Health Service trusts. This work is also being completed ahead of the delegation of commissioning responsibilities to integrated care boards.

Increasing the access to minimally invasive cancer therapies is the last topic of today’s #LordsQs in a question from Lord Aberdare. 📺 Watch online from 3.05pm https://t.co/cszlVQNMfw 4/4 https://t.co/crJnX137d2