Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 shorten the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.
It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer through the non-specific symptoms pathway.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.
It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to support people who have reported (a) long-term health and (b) personal impacts due to being prescribed Diethylstilbestrol (DES) between 1950 and 1980.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines supplied in the United Kingdom. Our activity spans the whole of a medicine’s lifecycle. Diethylstilboestrol (DES) is an oestrogenic hormone formerly used in the treatment of threatened miscarriage. In 1971, it was identified in a US study that DES could cause a distinct type of cancer in the daughters of women who took DES in early pregnancy. It was subsequently contraindicated in pregnancy, pre-menopausal women, children and young adults. The issue of DES and vaginal carcinoma in the daughters of women who took DES in pregnancy was reviewed by the predecessor to the Commission on Human Medicines, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) in the early 1970s. In 1973, the CSM wrote to all doctors to inform them of the results of the US study and the absence of identified cases in the UK.
DES may still be prescribed in the UK for certain types of cancer, including cancer of the prostate and metastatic post-menopausal cancer of the breast. The product information for DES clearly describes the risk of harms related to its use in pregnancy and for this reason its use is contra-indicated in pregnant women; it is not suitable for pre-menopausal women, and should not be prescribed to children or young people due to its carcinogenic potential. The use of DES is now only justified in the management of malignant disease.
The MHRA continuously assesses the benefit risk balance of all medicines at the time of initial licensing and throughout their use in clinical practice, carefully evaluating any emerging evidence on their benefits and risks.
A small increased risk of breast cancer in women who received DES whilst pregnant was first identified in the 1980s and confirmed in further studies in the 1990s, when longer follow up of women who had taken DES was available. No increased risk of other cancers has been established, including endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer.
Since 1992 the National Cancer Institute at the US National Institutes of Health has been conducting the DES Follow-up Study of more than 21,000 mothers, daughters, and sons, exposed in the womb during the mother’s pregnancy, to better understand the long-term health effects of exposure to DES. The findings of this follow up have been published in the scientific literature.
Daughters of individuals exposed to DES are at increased risk of clear cell cancer of the cervix and vagina. The current advice from the UK Health Security Agency is that routine cervical screening is appropriate for those who believed they were exposed to DES in utero; the advice is available at the following link:
Participation in the National Breast Screening Programme is also recommended. Pregnant women who know that they were exposed in utero to DES should inform their obstetrician and be aware of the increased risks of ectopic pregnancy and preterm labour.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 tackle regional variations in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, including blood cancer. NHS Planning Guidance, issued on 30 January 2025, set stretching targets for cancer. By March 2026, approximately 100,000 more people every year will be told whether they have cancer or not within 28 days, and 17,000 more people will begin treatment within two months of a referral.
Meeting these targets for cancer will ensure that no patient waits longer than they should for diagnosis or treatment, and we have started by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment.
Making improvements across different cancer types is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
We do not currently have access to information on how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer through the non-specific symptoms pathway.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer through the non-specific symptoms pathway.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, including blood cancer. NHS Planning Guidance, issued on 30 January 2025, set stretching targets for cancer. By March 2026, approximately 100,000 more people every year will be told whether they have cancer or not within 28 days, and 17,000 more people will begin treatment within two months of a referral.
Meeting these targets for cancer will ensure that no patient waits longer than they should for diagnosis or treatment, and we have started by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment.
Making improvements across different cancer types is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
We do not currently have access to information on how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer through the non-specific symptoms pathway.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
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 promote awareness of ovarian cancer month.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP). Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
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 (a) training and (b) support is in place to help GPs diagnose ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP). Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to tackle regional variations in the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP). Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP). Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to alter the messaging provided on cervical screening leaflets to make clear it does not screen for (a) ovarian cancer and (b) other gynaecological cancers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
NHS England is responsible for delivering the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, and works to ensure that core public information on screening is easily accessible and understandable to the public. NHS England regularly reviews key public information across National Health Service screening programmes.
NHS England has advised that they are currently updating the Cervical screening: helping you decide leaflet, and that the draft update already addresses the concerns raised, making it clear that cervical screening does not screen for other cancers of the reproductive system. The final updated version is expected to be published in early 2025, and the current leaflet is available at the following link: