Paula Sherriff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps the Government has taken to improve care and support for people with breast cancer.
Jane Ellison
The independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015-2020, recommends improvements across the cancer pathway with the aim of improving survival rates, including for people with breast cancer.
We are working with the National Health Service, charities and patient groups to deliver it. To support delivery of the strategy, NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director. Whilst continuing in her current position at the Royal Marsden, she will lead the implementation of the strategy, alongside work to test new models of care at the Royal Marsden and University College London Hospitals in partnership with Manchester Cancer.
Improving Outcomes in Breast Cancer, published by the Department in 1996 and updated by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (now known as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)) in 2002, sets out best practice evidence based guidance on the diagnosis, treatment and care of women with breast cancer. The guidance is complimented by clinical guidelines on Breast cancer (early and locally advanced) and Breast cancer (advanced) published by NICE in 2009, and Familial breast cancer published in June 2013.
NICE has also published a quality standard for breast cancer which is designed to drive and measure priority quality improvements in a breast cancer care. This is currently being updated.
In addition, NHS England has a Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group, which is administratively supported by the charities Breast Cancer Now and Breast Cancer Care. It has produced evidence based service guidance to support commissioners of breast cancer services, which is in the process of review internally.
The results of the 2014 Cancer Patient Experience survey show improvements in many areas. 89% of all patients reported that their care was either excellent or very good, and breast cancer patients on the whole reported a more positive experience than for many other cancer patients, with 93% reporting having been given the name of a Clinical Nurse Specialist.
On 13 September, based on the recommendations of the independent Cancer Taskforce report, we announced a number of measures to improve diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of people with cancer. This included a commitment that, by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. The packages will be individually designed to help each person live well beyond cancer, including things such as physical activity programmes, psychological support and practical advice about returning to work.
