Improving Cancer Outcomes — House of Commons, 2015-02-05
Topic: Health
Jane Ellison (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. That is the purpose of the buddying programme. There is now a more formalised process to ensure that those that are not doing so well are "buddied up" with those that are doing very well I want to make a few more points in response to hon. Members’ comments. My hon. Friend rightly brought up the issue of CCG accountability and how we hold CCGs to account. I congratulate the APPG and his personal campaign to make sure we get the one-year cancer survival rates added to NHS England’s delivery dashboard from April this year. Where the evidence from the delivery dashboard is that local providers are not meeting the standards, that will be challenged by NHS England. I think there is still work to do to understand how we can do that most effectively. I know the APPG will also be giving thought to that. I encourage all local authorities, health and wellbeing boards and Members to be part of that challenge process. I also refer them to the work of the chief inspector of general practice, Professor Steve Field, in that regard, because that is an important part of his work, too I can confirm that work is ongoing with regard to free social care at the end of life. The hon. Member for Easington asked about that. That work is ongoing, but the Minister with responsibility for care will be able to expand on that On health and inequalities, I could not agree more with all hon. Members who made the point that tackling health inequalities is inextricable from tackling cancer effectively. I visited the constituency of the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) recently. The figures for how many cancers are diagnosed through the emergency route have been put on the record in this debate—around 22%. He told me that in his constituency 40% of lung cancers are diagnosed in A and E, and they have very poor outcomes. That brought that point home to me extremely clearly Sean Duffy, the national clinical director, is passionate about the treatment and care of older people affected by cancer. That can play a very significant role in improving our overall outcomes. I know that is something he wants to focus on through his call to action, as well as looking at lower socio-economic groups and some black and minority ethnic groups. A recent Be Clear on Cancer campaign on prostate cancer took place in six London boroughs and focused on black men and their particular susceptibility to that cancer On rarer cancers, I have touched on some of the work that is going on, but I am pleased that Cancer Research UK’s new strategy launched last year set out how it would increase research in key areas such as early diagnosis, and again that work will feed into the taskforce On research, I will not go into detail, but I invite my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point to contact me at the Department of Health with regard to research on brain cancer. I was recently able to supply some very detailed figures to the all-party group on pancreatic cancer from the chief medical officer, and I would be very happy to supply them in her area of interest Lastly, let me give some reassurance on access to data. Transparency is a key theme for this Government. We have rightly put huge amounts of data into the public domain. It is a frustration that the data availability issue to which my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay referred has been hard to resolve. Last year some concerns were raised about the legitimacy of the release of patient data to a range of organisations. When these concerns were raised, Public Health England did absolutely the right thing and suspended the release of data while it conducted a full review. This review is now complete. Public Health England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre have also clarified the legal basis of data transfer between the organisations and a letter of authority has just been issued by the departmental sponsors to remove any ambiguity. Data should now begin flowing more quickly I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this debate and to so many other debates we have had in the House on this vital subject. I strongly believe there is a great deal of consensus about what needs to happen. We need to continue to challenge the system, and I am delighted that Parliament continues to challenge Ministers in this regard. The new NHS England independent cancer taskforce is leading the way in partnership working and will make a real difference If this is the last general debate we have on cancer in this Parliament, may I say thank you to the various APPGs and the people who speak for them, and give them the following assurance? I can tell them that, although it may not always seem like it, in the 18 months or so that I have been a Minister their work has made a difference, and I do know of things that have happened because APPGs and individual Members championed them in this place. If that does not give them the heart and encouragement to keep going and to come back in the new Parliament and champion these issues further, I do not know what will. I congratulate them on their efforts today, and on other days and throughout the year, on this highly important topic that matters so much to all our constituents.