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, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of breast cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving early diagnosis of cancer including breast cancer is a priority for the National Health Service. 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. Additionally, the new cancer standards developed and supported by cancer doctors and implemented in October 2023 will ensure patients are diagnosed faster and treatment starts earlier.
The NHS Cancer Programme has also commissioned five new cancer clinical audits including metastatic breast cancers. These will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022 with the first outcomes expected in 2024.
In January 2022 we provided £10 million of funding for 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 life-saving upgrades to services in the areas where they are most needed, so more women can be checked for signs of cancer, speeding up diagnosis and treatment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make a comparative estimate of breast cancer survival rates in (a) the UK and (b) other comparable nations in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no such plans to make a comparative assessment. Cancer survival is measured in cohorts, so the 2010 comparison point uses the 2006-10 cohort, compared to the latest available data which reflects the 2016-20 cohort. In England, breast cancer net survival rate for the 2016-20 cohort one year after diagnosis was 96.1% compared to 94.4% for the 2006-10 cohort. The five-year survival rate was 85.9% for the 2016-20 cohort compared to 83.2% for the 2006-10 cohort.
The Department has undertaken analyses previously, especially of comparative cancer survival rates and contributors to variations between different countries. However, the different factors and methods used in such analyses are very complex and subject to interpretation of issues such as public health, risk factors, and patient pathways.
An example of this can be seen in the Department’s evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry into cancer services, submitted and published in September 2021. More information is available at the following link:
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/39021/pdf/
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 he is taking to promote screening for breast cancer to people who are eligible.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is committed to supporting and improving the National Health Service breast screening programme. The Department has invested £10 million funding into the NHS Breast Screening Programme providing 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, tackle health disparities and contribute towards higher early diagnosis rates in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
In addition, steps are being taken to remove barriers to attending breast cancer screening such as promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. NHS Breast Screening Providers are also being encouraged to work with cancer alliances, primary care networks, NHS England regional teams and the voluntary sector, to bring together work to promote uptake of breast screening and take action to ensure as many people as possible can access services.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require breast cancer screening invitations to include an appointment time.
Answered by Will Quince
During the COVID-19 pandemic, timed appointments were no longer deemed feasible for the recovery of services, based on expert opinion. Services moved to an ‘open appointment’ system where women contacted services to agree a time slot suitable for them.
All services have now recovered, and some have returned to the timed appointments. Several services have retained an open system as they have noted increased uptake and patient satisfaction.
NHS England have commissioned a series of national evaluative projects being led by Professor Stephen Duffy and his team at Queen Mary’s University of London, to provide evidence to inform NHS England on the most appropriate invitation methodology to underpin future pathway changes and improvements in the national screening programme. These are due to report March 2024.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS has taken to contact women who missed breast cancer screening appointments due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Will Quince
All breast screening services are reporting that they have recovered from the impact of COVID-19.
To achieve this a number of steps have been taken, including:
- Breast Screening Offices running extra screening sessions and fully optimising available appointments to clear the mammogram backlog;
- developing a ‘NHS National Demand and Capacity Tool’ to support collation and analyses of data to identify where support and interventions are required;
- adapting mobile breast screening units so that women can be seen safely, in line with infection protection and control procedures;
- providers being encouraged to use methods such as text messaging to remind women about their breast screening invitation and encourage them to attend; and
- regional commissioners working closely with cancer alliances and cancer charities to develop uptake plans which address specific population needs.
In addition, the Department has invested £10 million of funding into the NHS Breast Screening Programme, providing 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage to boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low and tackle health disparities.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on increasing rates of early diagnosis for breast cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, remains a priority. We are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 52% from January to December 2020. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis.
The Government has also expanded the Breast Screening programme, with an additional £10 million funding for 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 life-saving upgrades to services in the areas where they are most needed.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take further steps to increase levels of uptake in the breast cancer screening programme.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million into the NHS Breast Screening Programme for 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas where they are needed most. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, and tackle health disparities.
Further steps to remove barriers to attending breast screening include promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. National Health Service breast screening providers are also being encouraged to work with their partners to bring together work to make sure as many people as possible can access breast screening services.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make breast cancer screening more (a) accessible and (b) convenient.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million into the NHS Breast Screening Programme for 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas where they are needed most. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, and tackle health disparities.
Further steps to remove barriers to attending breast screening include promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. National Health Service breast screening providers are also being encouraged to work with their partners to bring together work to make sure as many people as possible can access breast screening services.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for breast cancer screening in the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government provides the National Health Service with overall funding and it is the responsibility of NHS England to allocate funds to public health services such as breast screening. NHS England works closely with the Department to set spending plans and report on expenditure.
The assessment of the adequacy of funding for breast cancer screening is reviewed on an annual basis as part of the overall review of the NHS Public Health Functions Agreement. There have been notable recent decisions regarding the funding of breast cancer screening. For example, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic the Department committed significant funding to support additional spend on workforce and activity to remove the backlog of women whose invitations were delayed.
Furthermore, this year the Government invested additional funds to deliver 28 new breast cancer screening units and nearly 60 upgrades to speed up diagnosis and treatment. The Government has approved major investment in digital products to modernise all NHS screening programmes. The breast screening programme will be the first to benefit from these enhanced IT products.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 breast cancer screening is accessible to all eligible women.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million funding into the NHS Breast Screening Programme providing 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low and tackle health disparities
In addition, steps are being taken to remove barriers to attending breast cancer screening such as promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. NHS Breast Screening Providers are also being encouraged to work with cancer alliances, primary care networks, NHS England regional teams and the voluntary sector, to bring together work to promote uptake of breast screening and take action to ensure as many people as possible can access services.