Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 improve diagnosis times for pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working with NHS England to improve diagnosis for those with cancer, including pancreatic cancer. The Elective Recovery Plan, published on 8 February 2022, set out the ambition that 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024. To deliver this plan, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis.
In addition, the Government has awarded £2.3 billion to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, prioritising CDCs for cancer services.
The National Health Service has implemented ‘non-specific symptom pathways’ for patients who have symptoms that do not align to a particular type of tumour, including for non-specific symptoms of pancreatic cancer. There are 103 pathways currently in place, with the aim being to have national coverage by March 2024.
To encourage people to see their GP if they notice symptoms that could be cancer, NHS England runs the ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaigns, which address the barriers that deter patients from accessing the NHS.
In addition, the NHS has allocated £10 million to innovations to support earlier and more efficient diagnosis, including the PinPoint blood test and a new genetic test that can be used as a ‘liquid biopsy’ for those with suspected pancreatic cancer.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 increase the survival rate for pancreatic cancer; and whether policies on increasing the survival rate will be included in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Will Quince
Early diagnosis is key to improving survival rates for pancreatic cancer. The Department is working with the National Health Service to improve diagnosis and treatment for those with cancer. The Elective Recovery Plan, published on 8 February 2022, set out the ambition that 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024.
The pancreatic cancer clinical audit, led by the Royal College of Surgeons, began in 2021, with the first outcomes expected in 2023/24. A key aim of the audit is to support NHS services to stimulate improvements in cancer detection, treatment and outcomes for patients, including improving survival rates.
In addition, the NHS has allocated £10 million to innovations to support earlier and more efficient diagnosis, including the PinPoint blood test and a new genetic test that can be used as a ‘liquid biopsy’ for those with suspected pancreatic cancer.
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at the treatment and prevention of cancer, covering the patient pathway. The strategy will consider a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the age limits on each of the NHS screening programmes and the justification for each limit.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All National screening programmes are introduced based on recommendations made by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC assesses and evaluates the evidence to offer screening when it will offer more good than harm. Screening age ranges are selected based on the range where the evidence supports that balance.
The National Health Service breast screening programme invites eligible women to be screened every three years from the age of 50 up to their 71st birthday.
The NHS bowel screening programme invited men and women every two years from ages 60 to 74 years old. The programme is expanding to make it available to everyone aged 50 to 59 years old. This is happening gradually over four years and started in April 2021.
The NHS cervical screening programme invites people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 49 for screening every three years, whilst people aged 50 to 64 receive an invitation every five years.
The NHS abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme offers men a screening the year they turn 65.
The NHS diabetic eye screening programme is offered to anyone with diabetes who is 12 years old or over. Those eligible are invited for an annual screening.
The NHS targeted lung cancer screening programme that has been recently announced will invite people aged 55 to 74 identified as being at high risk of lung cancer for screening.
For antenatal screening programmes, pregnant women are invited early for screening once the pregnancy has been confirmed. This includes the NHS foetal anomaly screening programme and NHS infectious diseases in pregnancy.
Screening for newborns is also offered early at a time when conditions can be detected and where early treatment can improve the baby’s health and prevent severe disability or even death. Newborn screening programmes include the NHS newborn blood spot screening programme, the NHS newborn hearing screening programme, the NHS newborn and infant physical examination screening programme and the NHS sickle cell and thalassaemia screening programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 provide blood tests to help detect cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Blood tests are used to support the diagnoses of many conditions and diseases, including cancer. For example, tests such as the Full Blood Count can be used to inform the diagnoses of blood cancers and other tests detect blood proteins that can be indicative of the body’s immune system response to the presence of cancer cells.
The science and understanding of cancer is advancing, as are the opportunities to detect cancer in patients with no symptoms using blood tests. The Grail-Galleri trial, that aims to help the National Health Service with research into early cancer detection in patients without symptoms, is an example of this advancement.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that vulnerable people receive any medial treatment they need in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
North Central London Integrated Care System (NCL ICS) , which covers the Enfield North constituency, has implemented a range of initiatives to ensure vulnerable people receive the medical treatment they need. This includes extending availability of general practitioner appointments to seven days a week, working with communities in the borough to understand their needs and to inform the commissioning and delivery of services, and raising the profile of preventive services, such as NHS cancer screening services and NHS health checks. Specific Inclusion Health initiatives are also being implemented across NCL ICS to target vulnerable groups, like people experiencing homelessness, and specific areas of concern, like blood born viruses.
The NCL Inequalities Fund has funded a variety of projects which, alongside the range of public health and preventative services commissioned by Enfield Local Authority through the Public Health Grant, aim to increase access to health and care services for under-served communities. Some examples of these are smoking cessation services, the ABC Parents Project, oral health promotion services, sexual health services and health visiting services.
Asked by: John Baron (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 early diagnosis of cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The earlier we diagnose cancer, the better the outcomes for patients.
That’s why we’re speeding up diagnosis of the most common cancers e.g., skin cancer with tele-dermatology, bowel cancer through Faecal Immunochemical Testing, and prostate cancer through multiparametric MRI; increasing targeted screening for breast cancer and lung cancer; investing in 160 new community diagnostic centres; and tackling variation in cancer waiting times around the country.
Thanks to the hard work of so many people in cancer services around the country, the NHS hit the ‘faster diagnosis standard’ for the first time in February.
And – looking ahead - we’re investing in innovations like the Galleri blood test which may be able to detect cancer before people even have symptoms.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on patients with multiple myeloma of (1) updates to the NICE health technology evaluations manual, and (2) the forthcoming end of Cancer Drugs Fund access agreements for treatments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated manual for health technology evaluations in January 2022 and has introduced a number of changes to make its methods and processes fairer, faster and more consistent. This includes the introduction of a broader severity modifier in place of the end of life modifier. Analysis carried out by NICE in the development of the modifier indicates that the vast majority of cancer medicines, including for blood cancers, that would be eligible for the end of life modifier would also be eligible for a weighting under the severity modifier.
In 2022/23, 89% of NICE’s final recommendations on cancer drugs were positive, including all of the cancer medicines appraised using NICE’s updated methods and processes. No cancer medicines have completed their exit from the Cancer Drugs Fund using NICE’s updated methods and processes. However, NICE has released positive final draft guidance for the first, which treats a blood cancer.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of updates to the NICE health technology evaluations manual on access to treatments at the end of a Cancer Drugs Fund access agreement.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated manual for health technology evaluations in January 2022 and has introduced a number of changes to make its methods and processes fairer, faster and more consistent. This includes the introduction of a broader severity modifier in place of the end of life modifier. Analysis carried out by NICE in the development of the modifier indicates that the vast majority of cancer medicines, including for blood cancers, that would be eligible for the end of life modifier would also be eligible for a weighting under the severity modifier.
In 2022/23, 89% of NICE’s final recommendations on cancer drugs were positive, including all of the cancer medicines appraised using NICE’s updated methods and processes. No cancer medicines have completed their exit from the Cancer Drugs Fund using NICE’s updated methods and processes. However, NICE has released positive final draft guidance for the first, which treats a blood cancer.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with patient groups on the updates to the NICE health technology evaluations manual, and in particular (1) treatments at the end of a Cancer Drugs Fund access agreement no longer being assessed against the criteria supporting their original recommendation, and (2) the replacement of the end of life criteria with a severity modifier.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has had no discussions and has made no current plans. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for developing the methods and processes it uses and engaged with a wide range of stakeholders during the development of its updated manual for health technology evaluations, including on the severity modifier. Patient groups were directly involved in the methods review in the working group, task and finish groups and in two public consultations. Additionally, NICE engaged separately with industry and patient groups on the impact of the changes to it methods and processes for medicines currently in the Cancer Drugs Fund.
NICE also works closely with patient groups and other stakeholders in the development of its guidance on individual technologies. In 2022/23, 89% of NICE’s final recommendations on cancer drugs were positive, including all of the cancer medicines appraised using NICE’s updated methods and processes. No cancer medicines have completed their exit from the CDF using NICE’s updated methods and processes. However, NICE has released positive final draft guidance for the first, which treats a blood cancer.
If NICE determines at the end of a managed access period that a technology is not a good use of National Health Service resources, then people already having treatment may continue until they and their NHS clinician consider it appropriate to stop.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with patient groups, including on blood cancer, to allow continued access to treatments at the end of a Cancer Drugs Fund access agreement that meet the original end of life criteria but not the new severity modifier criteria following updates to the NICE health technology evaluations manual.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has had no discussions and has made no current plans. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for developing the methods and processes it uses and engaged with a wide range of stakeholders during the development of its updated manual for health technology evaluations, including on the severity modifier. Patient groups were directly involved in the methods review in the working group, task and finish groups and in two public consultations. Additionally, NICE engaged separately with industry and patient groups on the impact of the changes to it methods and processes for medicines currently in the Cancer Drugs Fund.
NICE also works closely with patient groups and other stakeholders in the development of its guidance on individual technologies. In 2022/23, 89% of NICE’s final recommendations on cancer drugs were positive, including all of the cancer medicines appraised using NICE’s updated methods and processes. No cancer medicines have completed their exit from the CDF using NICE’s updated methods and processes. However, NICE has released positive final draft guidance for the first, which treats a blood cancer.
If NICE determines at the end of a managed access period that a technology is not a good use of National Health Service resources, then people already having treatment may continue until they and their NHS clinician consider it appropriate to stop.