Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of patients with cancer of the unknown primary first presenting at accident and emergency.
Jane Ellison
NHS England expects that the treatment and care for patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary reflects patients’ needs and preferences and that services are provided taking into account National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
Public Health England leads on developing a public health strategy for England which aims to tackle ‘upstream’ factors to reduce risks from cancer caused by tobacco, alcohol and obesity and to promote health through improved diets and exercise promotion. The National Health Service has a key role to play in supporting local authorities by commissioning smoking cessation services, specialist alcohol services, as well as through raising awareness of lifestyle risks with people who are in contact with NHS services and providing intensive support where needed.
Alongside supporting Public Health England to increase symptom awareness amongst the general population, NHS England is also working to increase cancer symptom awareness amongst healthcare professionals, and to provide support to general practitioners in early diagnosis.
In 2013-14 NHS England made £2.3 million available to support improved symptom awareness and early diagnosis. The majority of this funding was provided to strategic clinical networks which have the function of coordinating a more strategic approach to the development of cancer commissioning and provision in England. They also support early diagnosis through delivery of transparent data about performance in outcomes. For example, new indicators on stage of diagnosis of cancer and diagnosis through emergency routes are being introduced as part of the clinical commissioning group (CCG) outcomes indicator set in 2014-15. This will support CCGs to understand how their local communities are performing in relation to cancer outcomes.
