Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's press release entitled AI to speed up lung cancer diagnosis deployed in NHS hospitals, published on 30 October 2023, how many of the NHS trusts listed have (a) received funding and (b) rolled out AI tools to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since the original announcement, two additional trusts have been included in this initiative, bringing the total to 66, from the previously announced 64. Funding to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer has so far been provided to 63 of the 66 trusts participating. This represents 11 of the 12 participating imaging networks. The remaining imaging network has recently completed its procurement process, with a finalised outcome expected soon. All 63 funded trusts are currently in the process of deploying the AI technologies. We anticipate the first trusts will begin utilising these technologies for patient care from May 2024.
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 much funding her Department has allocated to prostate cancer research in the last 5 years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is proud to invest £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 over £121.8 million for 2022/23, with more spent on cancer than any other disease group. In 2018, the Government announced £75 million towards clinical trials for prostate cancer, with a focus on improving early diagnosis, survival rates, and exploring options for different treatments for men affected by the disease.
Since April 2019, the NIHR has awarded £79.1 million across 49 prostate cancer research programmes. Research includes randomised controlled trials of different treatments for prostate cancer, a randomised controlled trial of different methods of biopsy for suspected prostate cancer, and survivors' rehabilitation evaluation after cancer.
On 19 November 2023, the Government and Prostate Cancer UK announced a £42 million screening trial to find ways of detecting the country’s most common male cancer earlier. Prostate Cancer UK is leading the development of the trial, with the Government contributing £16 million through the Department. Additionally, the NIHR supported over 100 commercial and non-commercial clinical research studies in 2023/24, through the NIHR Research Delivery Network.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure the (a) experiences and (b) specialist needs of young people with cancer are reflected in the work of the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Supporting children and young people affected by cancer remains a priority for the Government. The scope of the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce, including stakeholder engagement, will be determined once the work of the taskforce begins, currently planned to start from Spring 2024.
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce is being set up to progress the Government’s mission to deliver world-leading cancer services. This is dedicated work focusing on cancers affecting children and young people and will explore detection and diagnosis, including improving awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer in young people, as well as genomic testing, treatment, and research and innovation.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 consult young people with cancer affected by cancer during the development of the Children and Young People Taskforce.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Supporting children and young people affected by cancer remains a priority for the Government. The scope of the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce, including stakeholder engagement, will be determined once the work of the taskforce begins, currently planned to start from Spring 2024.
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce is being set up to progress the Government’s mission to deliver world-leading cancer services. This is dedicated work focusing on cancers affecting children and young people and will explore detection and diagnosis, including improving awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer in young people, as well as genomic testing, treatment, and research and innovation.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 3.64 of the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, what steps she is taking to ensure that every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to (a) personalised care, (b) a needs assessment, (c) a care plan and (d) health and wellbeing information and support.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring every person diagnosed with cancer has access to personalised care and support is a key priority for the Government. The NHS Long Term Plan for cancer states that where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support. NHS England is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients have access to a Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care and Support Planning, ensuring care is focused on what matters most to each person. Additionally, End of Treatment Summaries are being introduced, which aims to empower people to manage the impact of their cancer after treatment. Health and wellbeing information and support is provided from diagnosis onwards, and includes access to NHS Talking Therapy services for anxiety and depression. This is alongside wider work to improve psychosocial support for people affected by cancer, such as through local partnerships with cancer support charities.
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring that 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 National Health Service money that is allocated to support the health and wellbeing needs of a patient, if eligible. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/what-is-a-personal-health-budget/
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with NHS England on progress on improving outcomes for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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, including pancreatic cancer. The National Health Service is delivering a range of interventions expected to increase early diagnosis and improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer. This includes: providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer, and diagnose cancers sooner; creating new pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types; and increasing direct access for general practitioners to arrange diagnostic tests.
NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments, and 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. In addition to this, the Getting it Right First Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight actions NHS providers need to take to improve services, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.
The NHS is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage one and two 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. 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: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an estimate of expected liver cancer mortality rates by the end of 2025.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate has been made of expected liver cancer mortality rates by the end of 2025. The care of and treatment for patients with cancer, including liver cancer, is a priority for the Government. Early diagnosis of liver cancer is critical to improving rates of survival. NHS England’s Early Diagnosis of Liver Cancer Programme is contributing to the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to diagnose 75% of all cancers at stage one or two by 2028. This programme includes three workstreams: improving liver surveillance programmes; community liver health checks pilots; and primary care pilots. Identifying those at risk and ensuring patients are tested and referred to a surveillance programme, where necessary, will lead to improved patient outcomes.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment services for bowel cancer at Stepping Hill hospital.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of diagnosis and treatment services for bowel cancer at Stepping Hill Hospital. However, data held at the provider level can give us insight into lower gastrointestinal (GI) cancer for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. Of those patients referred to Stockport NHS Foundation Trust for suspected lower GI cancer in February 2024, 86.1% received a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days. This is above the 75.0% standard, and shows an increase of 4.2% since January. Furthermore, of those patients referred to Stockport NHS Foundation Trust for lower GI cancer in February 2024, 95.2% received a first or subsequent treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat. This is above national performance of 91.1%, against the standard of 96.0%. For lower GI cancer in the same period, 67.4% of patients received treatment within 62 days of an urgent suspected cancer or screening referral, or consultant upgrade, to a first definitive treatment for cancer. This is above national performance of 63.9% against the standard of 85.0%.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase awareness of acute myeloid leukaemia.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Raising awareness and improving early diagnosis of cancer, including blood related cancers such as acute myeloid leukaemia, remains a priority for the Government. NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, and in January 2024, relaunched the Help Us Help You cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by reducing barriers to seeking help, as well as increasing body awareness, and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This campaign addresses barriers to people coming forward with suspected signs of all cancers.
This relaunch follows NHS England’s initial launch of the Help Us Help You campaign in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they need it. The Help Us Help You strategy is designed to address the underlying barriers to cancer diagnosis, including multifaceted fears, a lack of body awareness, and a lack of knowledge of cancer symptoms, to encourage people to present earlier.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
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 improve the treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma cancers; and whether a proportion of the additional funding allocated to her Department in the Spring Budget 2024 will be used to treat Cholangiocarcinoma cancers.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage, more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer, and the National Health Service has been seeing and treating record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years. Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including cholangiocarcinoma cancers, is a priority for the NHS. The NHS has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live for longer.
Although funding for treatment isn’t allocated for specific cancers, the Government has provided significant additional funding to the NHS and adult social care in England. Measures introduced at the Spring Budget will protect levels of funding for the NHS in England in real terms in 2024/25, by providing an extra £2.5 billion for 2024/25, meaning a total budget of £164.9 billion.
While this additional spending is needed, the Government recognises that more money cannot always be the answer to improving outcomes for patients. Alongside the £2.5 billion of extra funding for day-to-day activities, the Government will invest £3.4 billion to reform the way the NHS works. This funding will significantly reduce the 13 million hours of time doctors spend on poor IT, freeing up significant capacity, and revolutionising treatment for a range of illnesses such as cancer and strokes. This will double the investment in technological and digital transformation in the NHS in England, and turn the NHS into one of the most digitally enabled, productive healthcare systems in the world.
On 14 August 2023, the Government published the Major Conditions Strategy’s Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework, which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next five years that will deliver the most value when facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer. It will look at the treatment and prevention of cancer, covering the patient pathway. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers, to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.