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1 Sep 2008 : Column 1651W—continued
Cancer: Clinical Trials
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work his Department has undertaken with the National Cancer Research Network to encourage the inclusion of more older people in clinical trials; what steps he is taking to monitor progress in the involvement of older people in clinical trials; and if he will make a statement. [220972]
Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) on 3 March 2008, Official Report, column 2094W.
Cancer: Drugs
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the National Cancer Director plans to publish his report on the uptake of cancer drugs approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, as referred to in paragraph 4.51 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy. [220958]
Ann Keen: Work on the report is now under way and it is anticipated that it will be published by the end of the year.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken by his Department with the (a) pharmaceutical and (b) biotechnology industries to monitor how use of anti-cancer medicines in the NHS in England compares to other European countries; what the results of this work have been; and if he will make a statement. [220962]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: As part of the innovation package arising from the negotiations on a new Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, the Government have committed to the development of new metrics for the uptake of clinically and cost-effective medicines starting with a number of medicines, including anti-cancer medicines, positively appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and to the publication of comparative international data.
Cancer: Health Education
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department (a) is providing in 2008-09 and (b) plans to provide in 2009-10 on the social marketing campaign to raise awareness of the symptoms of breast, lung and bowel cancers, as referred to in paragraph 3.53 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy. [220936]
Ann Keen: The Department has funded the Improvement Foundation to test local approaches to raising awareness of the symptoms of breast, lung and bowel cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Funding planned for 2008-09 is £1,132,000. There are no plans at this time for funding for 2009-10.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what cancer areas the National Awareness and Early Detection Initiative intends to develop standardised messages to underpin awareness-raising campaigns, as referred to in paragraph 3.51 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy, published on 3 December 2007; and what progress has been made in developing these messages. [220937]
Ann Keen: Key messages have been developed for lung cancer and prostate cancer, and are being reviewed by stakeholders. Key messages for ovarian cancer are currently being developed.
In the immediate future, other areas to be considered are gynaecological cancers, lower gastro-intestinal cancers, skin cancer and head and neck cancers.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when his Department plans to begin conducting regular national surveys of cancer symptom awareness, as referred to in paragraph 3.47 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy; [220938]
(2) what progress is being made in (a) developing measurement tools for cancer symptom awareness and (b) developing and testing new interventions to raise awareness of cancer as referred to in paragraph 3.44 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy. [220939]
Ann Keen: The awareness measurement tool being developed by researchers funded by Cancer Research UK is expected to be ready to test in the autumn 2008, and will provide the basis for the first national survey of public awareness of cancer symptoms.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what form the Football Foundation's pilot programme to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer, as referred to in paragraph 3.55 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy, will take; when he expects the pilot programme to begin; and if he will make a statement. [220948]
Ann Keen: Planning for this programme of work has begun and the specification is being drafted. The programme will run for approximately 12 months but we have not agreed start/finish dates at this time.
As detailed in paragraph 3.55 of the Cancer Reform Strategy an announcement will be made when this work begins.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for which pilot projects the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative is supporting the evaluation, as referred to in paragraph 3.54 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy. [220949]
Ann Keen: The Department is working with the National Cancer Research Institute and Cancer Research UK to develop an evaluation methodology.
Cancer: Health Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has provided guidance to commissioners on how to commission cancer genetic services, as referred to in paragraph 2.53 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy. [220934]
Ann Keen: As set out in paragraph 9.9 of the Cancer Reform Strategy, the Department is working with Macmillan Cancer Support to develop a chapter on commissioning cancer genetics services to be included in the “Guidance on Commissioning Cancer Services”. The guidance is based on the evaluations of the jointly funded pilots of delivering cancer genetics services in the national health service in England. The guidance is due in the autumn, with the chapter on genetics services available shortly thereafter, as some evaluation data is still awaited. Data will also be included in the accompanying web-based commissioning toolkit.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to begin auditing all patients newly diagnosed with cancer, as referred to in paragraph 3.61 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy. [220950]
Ann Keen: The Royal College of General Practitioners has begun work on developing an audit methodology, which will be tested in late 2008/early 2009.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of all (a) drug treatment and (b) surgical treatments were delivered to cancer patients within 31 days in the latest period for which figures are available; when the 31-day treatment standard for cancer treatments begins, as referred to in paragraph 4.8 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy; and what the milestones are for meeting the 31-day treatment standard for radiotherapy services by December 2010; [220951]
(2) whether his Department has provided guidance on how patients with suspected cancer detected through national screening programmes enter the 62-day pathway, as referred to in paragraph 4.8 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy; [220952]
(3) what progress is being made towards ensuring that all localities have implemented arrangements ensuring that patients highly suspected of having cancers are managed on the 62-day pathway, as referred to in paragraph 4.8 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy; [220953]
(4) pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2008, Official Report, column 1504W, on cancer: health services, if he will issue guidance to primary care trusts instructing them that all treatments for which funding is initially denied but then granted on appeal must be given to patients within the 31-day cancer waiting-time standard. [221140]
Ann Keen: The currently available performance figures, reflecting the current waiting times standards, are published quarterly. Performance data for the extended standards that come into force at the end of this year will be available for publication next spring.
Figures for the latest quarter available (January 2008 to March 2008) show that 99.5 per cent. of patients are first treated within one month of diagnosis. Thus the current standard has been met. This data is not currently broken down by treatment type, but the 99.5 per cent. achievement does cover all treatment types, including drug and surgical interventions. This data is available on the Department's website at:
An extension to the current cancer treatment standards, building on their success, was announced in December's Cancer Reform Strategy, with a timetable for delivery:
the extension of the 31 day standard to include all surgical and drug treatments comes into force from December 2008, and for radiotherapy and all other treatments from December 2010—this covers subsequent treatments (not just the first treatment, which is the current standard);
the extension of the 62 day standard, putting patients referred from screening programmes onto the 62 day care pathway, comes into force from December 2008;
the extension of the standard enabling consultant upgrades (of patients highly suspected of having cancers) onto the 62-day pathway comes into force from December 2008; and
the extension of the two weeks standard (to include all patients referred with breast symptoms) comes into force from December 2009.
The Department is developing guidance, in liaison with the NHS, on all of these new standards, which will be published shortly.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which cancer networks (a) have met and (b) are on target to meet the milestones contained in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s Improving Outcomes Guidance on supportive and palliative care for adults. [220963]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: All Cancer Networks have submitted plans which will meet the requirements for partial implementation by December 2008. The expectation is that they will be fully compliant by the end 2009 and progress will be monitored by the National Cancer Action Team and peer review.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards developing a course on effective face-to-face communication skills for children and young people with cancer, as referred to in paragraph 5.14 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy; and when he expects the course to be launched. [220964]
Ann Keen: A working group has now been established to develop:
a group of course facilitators specialising in working with children and young people; and
specific materials and trigger tapes to support the training of those working with children and young people.
It is expected the first courses will run in spring 2009.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which primary care trust areas clinical nurse specialist provision has been found to be insufficient, as referred to in paragraph 5.47 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy; what steps he is taking to encourage commissioners to address shortfalls in clinical nurse specialist provision; and if he will make a statement. [220966]
Ann Keen: Data on the number of clinical nurse specialists (CNS) are not collected centrally. It is for Cancer Networks to work in partnership with strategic health authorities, NHS trusts and postgraduate deaneries to put in place a sustainable process to assess, plan and review their workforce needs and the education and training of all staff linked to local and national priorities for cancer. Commissioners should benchmark their local CNS provision against similar primary care trusts and take action where the CNS workforce is found to be insufficient.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which the NHS is providing advice on returning to work for patients of working age with cancer. [220967]
Ann Keen: The Department has not made an assessment of the provision by the national health service of advice on returning to work for patients of working age with cancer.
The Cancer Reform Strategy, published in December 2007, set out a number of initiatives to improve patient support services for those living with and beyond cancer which includes ensuring that patients receive high quality personalised information throughout their cancer journey. As part of this, the strategy makes clear that commissioners should make sure that information for people who work and have cancer is made available to patients on diagnosis and that advice on returning to work should be available for all patients of working age.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the report outlining the outcome of the event held in March 2008 on Making the Cancer Survivorship Initiative a Reality, as referred to in paragraph 5.61 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy, which priority workstreams have been identified as part of the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative; and what future work he expects the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative to undertake. [220968]
Ann Keen: Work on the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (NCSI) is being co-led by the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, and the chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, Mr. Ciaran Devane, and the steering group held its first meeting in July.
A summary of the ThinkTank event held in March 2008 has been published on Macmillan Cancer Support's website at:
We hope to launch the NCSI's work streams at the initiative's conference on 11 September 2008. The future work of the NCSI will be based around those work streams.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 5.73 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy, whether an NHS Cancer Patient Experience Survey Programme has been established; and when he expects the first annual patient experience survey will (a) take place and (b) be published. [220969]
Ann Keen: To support and advise on the development of the national health service cancer patient experience survey programme (NHS CPESP), an advisory group has been established, chaired by Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director. The advisory group met for the first time on 29 May 2008. It is intended to hold the first annual patient experience survey in 2009-10. Experience from previous such surveys suggests that results will be made available 6 to 12 months after the survey takes place.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 6.9 of his Department's Cancer Reform Strategy, what specific goals have been agreed by his Department for reducing cancer mortality in each cancer network; and if he will make a statement. [220970]
Ann Keen: An advisory group has been set up to support and advise on the work of the newly established National Cancer Equality Initiative (NCEI). Work on agreeing challenging goals for reducing cancer mortality in every cancer network will be taken forward alongside the rest of the NCEI work programme.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of primary care trusts which have undertaken a local equality impact assessment, as referred to on page 86 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy. [220971]
Ann Keen: It is the responsibility of primary care trusts, working together with their strategic health authorities, stakeholders and local cancer services, including cancer networks, to undertake local equality impact assessments and take appropriate steps to address local issues.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts (a) have and (b) have not reviewed current bed utilisation by (i) tumour group and (ii) the split between elective and emergency use, as referred to in paragraph 7.37 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy. [220973]
Ann Keen: The electronic commissioning toolkit, which is currently being developed and is expected to be launched during autumn 2008, will enable primary care trusts to review current bed utilisation for cancer patients as set out in the Cancer Reform Strategy.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing an inpatient management programme for cancer patients, as referred to in paragraph 7.39 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy; and when he expects the programme to be implemented nationwide. [220974]
Ann Keen: We expect the steering group for the in-patient management programme to be established in the autumn. The steering group will agree the programme’s work streams and begin work to take these forward.
The Cancer Action Team has held five events with cancer networks and primary care trusts to explore developing local programmes on in-patient management. These events have highlighted the following four potential work streams for the in-patient management programme to take forward:
Management of elective surgery
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