Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 help improve (a) research into treatments for and (b) (i) emotional and (ii) financial support for people living with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.3 billion per year in health research, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23, and the NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.
The NIHR funded nine research projects on pancreatic cancer since 2018/19, with a committed funding value of £4.3 million. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.
The NIHR also supports delivery of research into pancreatic cancer in the health and care system, funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors. Since 2018/19 the NIHR supported 73 clinical research studies through the Clinical Research Network.
Additionally, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) and NIHR Clinical Research Facilities spent a further £6.5 million between 2018/19 and 2022/23, supporting an annual portfolio of approximately 85 early clinical studies into pancreatic cancer. NIHR BRCs are collaborations between world-leading universities and National Health Service organisations, that bring together academics and clinicians to translate discoveries from basic or discovery science into clinical research.
For emotional and financial support, patient feedback is monitored through the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, with the latest results showing an overall experience of 8.88 out of 10. In areas such as support for health and wellbeing, and information on financial help, results were positive but showed room for improvement. NHS England continues to support trusts to take action to improve cancer patient support.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer by age in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following link shows the numbers of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer by age in England, each year between 2019 and 2021, the most recent year for which we have data:
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for developing a best practice timed pathway for leukaemia.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has implemented non symptom specific pathways (NSS) 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. As of December 2023, there are 113 NSS pathways already live, an increase from 12 live Rapid Diagnostic Centre pathways in March 2020, with over 5,500 patients seen per month and a total of over 100,000 referrals since May 2020.
Raising awareness, delivering more research, and improving early diagnosis of cancers, which includes blood related cancers such as leukaemia, are crucial for improving survival rates and are key priorities for the Government.
NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, including leukaemia, to improve early diagnosis. In January 2024, NHS England relaunched their ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers. The campaign aims to reduce barriers to seeking earlier help, as well as to increase body awareness and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This relaunch follows NHS England’s launch of their original ‘Help Us Help You’ campaigns in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they needed it.
Delivering more research is key to understanding the causes of cancers and increasing survival rates of all cancers, including leukaemia, further. That is why investment in research and innovation is a priority for the Government. Our world-leading scientists and clinicians are driving the discovery, development, and testing of new treatments. The Department invested almost £122 million into cancer research in 2022/23 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In addition, alongside Cancer Research UK, health departments across the United Kingdom are jointly funding a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs), collectively investing more than £35 million between 2017 and 2022. The network of 17 adult and 12 paediatric ECMCs enhances the existing bench-to-bedside pathway by supporting the most promising innovations from the academic and industry sectors into the cancer medicines of tomorrow.
More broadly, the National Health Service is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. To support early diagnosis, the Government has invested £2.3 billion into community diagnostic centres across England which are speeding up diagnosis for cancer, with checks and scans being delivered at 160 sites across England. Cancer is also one of six major conditions included in our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy.
With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the rates of emergency diagnosis of leukaemia.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has implemented non symptom specific pathways (NSS) 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. As of December 2023, there are 113 NSS pathways already live, an increase from 12 live Rapid Diagnostic Centre pathways in March 2020, with over 5,500 patients seen per month and a total of over 100,000 referrals since May 2020.
Raising awareness, delivering more research, and improving early diagnosis of cancers, which includes blood related cancers such as leukaemia, are crucial for improving survival rates and are key priorities for the Government.
NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, including leukaemia, to improve early diagnosis. In January 2024, NHS England relaunched their ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers. The campaign aims to reduce barriers to seeking earlier help, as well as to increase body awareness and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This relaunch follows NHS England’s launch of their original ‘Help Us Help You’ campaigns in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they needed it.
Delivering more research is key to understanding the causes of cancers and increasing survival rates of all cancers, including leukaemia, further. That is why investment in research and innovation is a priority for the Government. Our world-leading scientists and clinicians are driving the discovery, development, and testing of new treatments. The Department invested almost £122 million into cancer research in 2022/23 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In addition, alongside Cancer Research UK, health departments across the United Kingdom are jointly funding a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs), collectively investing more than £35 million between 2017 and 2022. The network of 17 adult and 12 paediatric ECMCs enhances the existing bench-to-bedside pathway by supporting the most promising innovations from the academic and industry sectors into the cancer medicines of tomorrow.
More broadly, the National Health Service is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. To support early diagnosis, the Government has invested £2.3 billion into community diagnostic centres across England which are speeding up diagnosis for cancer, with checks and scans being delivered at 160 sites across England. Cancer is also one of six major conditions included in our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy.
With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve acute myeloid leukaemia survival rates.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has implemented non symptom specific pathways (NSS) 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. As of December 2023, there are 113 NSS pathways already live, an increase from 12 live Rapid Diagnostic Centre pathways in March 2020, with over 5,500 patients seen per month and a total of over 100,000 referrals since May 2020.
Raising awareness, delivering more research, and improving early diagnosis of cancers, which includes blood related cancers such as leukaemia, are crucial for improving survival rates and are key priorities for the Government.
NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, including leukaemia, to improve early diagnosis. In January 2024, NHS England relaunched their ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers. The campaign aims to reduce barriers to seeking earlier help, as well as to increase body awareness and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This relaunch follows NHS England’s launch of their original ‘Help Us Help You’ campaigns in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they needed it.
Delivering more research is key to understanding the causes of cancers and increasing survival rates of all cancers, including leukaemia, further. That is why investment in research and innovation is a priority for the Government. Our world-leading scientists and clinicians are driving the discovery, development, and testing of new treatments. The Department invested almost £122 million into cancer research in 2022/23 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In addition, alongside Cancer Research UK, health departments across the United Kingdom are jointly funding a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs), collectively investing more than £35 million between 2017 and 2022. The network of 17 adult and 12 paediatric ECMCs enhances the existing bench-to-bedside pathway by supporting the most promising innovations from the academic and industry sectors into the cancer medicines of tomorrow.
More broadly, the National Health Service is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. To support early diagnosis, the Government has invested £2.3 billion into community diagnostic centres across England which are speeding up diagnosis for cancer, with checks and scans being delivered at 160 sites across England. Cancer is also one of six major conditions included in our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy.
With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK Radiotherapy Board report Recovering radiotherapy services in England: Our plan for action, published in May, what assessment they have made of the finding that "a relatively small increase in staff funding would make a big difference to patient care".
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no assessment has been made of this finding, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
The Government is backing the LTWP with over £2.4 billion over the next five years, to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record total of £6.1 billion over the next two years. By significantly expanding domestic education, training, and recruitment, we will have more healthcare professionals working in the NHS. This will include more doctors and nurses, alongside an expansion in a range of other professions, including more staff working in new roles. The LTWP also commits to reform and modernise the way staff work, and harness new technology and innovations to increase productivity and make sure staff can spend more time with patients.
In January 2024 there were 35,252 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of 60.7% since January 2010. This includes 8,142 FTE consultants in January 2024, an increase of 69.6% since January 2010. There are 3,144 FTE therapeutic radiographers working in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is 4.3% more than in 2023, 14.6% more than in 2019, and 55.2% more than in 2010.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost saving to the NHS of the proposed generational ban on smoking from 2027 onwards.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. Smoking is one of the most important preventable causes of disparities in health, and a significant contributor to the gap in life expectancy.
Reduced smoking rates lead to fewer people dying from smoking-related diseases and fewer children exposed to second-hand smoke or living in smoking-induced poverty. There are four major diseases that together account for almost 60% of all ill health and early deaths attributable to smoking: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; coronary heart disease; lung cancer; and strokes. By 2075, our modelling suggests that between 48,000 and 115,000 cases of these diseases would be avoided, improving people’s lives and avoiding the pain of loss for families.
Smoking also costs society £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Our Impact Assessment on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill found that there would be savings of more than £2 billion, in 2019 prices, in reduced healthcare usage costs over 30 years from 2027. Health and economic gains are expected further in the future, saving the health and care system up to £18 billion and boosting the economy by up to £85 billion by 2075, cumulatively and undiscounted. Someone who avoids a smoking-related death can be expected to live eight to nine years longer as a result of this change, as set out in the command paper from October 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what cancer waiting times data are being collected regarding leukaemia and its sub-types; and how these data are being published.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the Faster Diagnostic Standard (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 on the NHS Cancer Waiting Times website, in an online only format. Performance against the FDS for suspected acute leukaemia in March 2024 was at 74.1%. Performance against the FDS for suspected haematological malignancies, excluding acute leukaemia, in March 2024 was at 56.8%.
For the 31- and 62-day referral to treatment combined standards, data is collected at an International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) level, and NHS England publishes data as an aggregation of these reports, to manage the risk of disclosure. Data regarding leukaemia and its sub-types is reported under cancer type ‘Haematological – Other (a)’. These are ICD-10 codes that are haematological, excluding lymphoma, and this aggregation includes ICD-10 codes C91.0 to C96.9, which includes all leukaemia codes. Further information on the ICD-10 classification is available on the NHS England website, in an online only format.
According to NHS England, the 31-day referral to treatment performance for acute leukaemia, testicular, and children’s cancer is no longer published as a separate category, due to the low numbers of patients seen with these cancers. These patients continue to be included within the numerator and denominator of the 31-day and 62-day all cancer National Statistics, published by NHS England.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of leukaemia patients have received a diagnosis within the 28-day 'faster diagnosis' standard.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the Faster Diagnostic Standard (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 on the NHS Cancer Waiting Times website, in an online only format. Performance against the FDS for suspected acute leukaemia in March 2024 was at 74.1%. Performance against the FDS for suspected haematological malignancies, excluding acute leukaemia, in March 2024 was at 56.8%.
For the 31- and 62-day referral to treatment combined standards, data is collected at an International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) level, and NHS England publishes data as an aggregation of these reports, to manage the risk of disclosure. Data regarding leukaemia and its sub-types is reported under cancer type ‘Haematological – Other (a)’. These are ICD-10 codes that are haematological, excluding lymphoma, and this aggregation includes ICD-10 codes C91.0 to C96.9, which includes all leukaemia codes. Further information on the ICD-10 classification is available on the NHS England website, in an online only format.
According to NHS England, the 31-day referral to treatment performance for acute leukaemia, testicular, and children’s cancer is no longer published as a separate category, due to the low numbers of patients seen with these cancers. These patients continue to be included within the numerator and denominator of the 31-day and 62-day all cancer National Statistics, published by NHS England.