Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that patients with prostate cancer receive the highest quality treatment.

Jane Ellison

Newly updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on how best to diagnose and treat prostate cancer will help doctors to ensure that men are given information about the treatment options available and help in choosing the best option to suit them. The updated guidance also aims to reduce the uncertainty and variations in practice that remain in some areas of prostate cancer diagnosis and management.

Since the original recommendations were published in 2008, a number of new treatments have been licensed for the management of hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer. There is also more information now available on the best way to diagnose and identify the different stages of the disease in a hospital setting, as well as how best to manage the side effects of radical treatment. NHS England would expect providers to take account of best evidence and treatments in their delivery of services.