John Baron MP questions Minister for Cancer Services over measures to encourage earlier diagnosis

MP says 5,000 lives could be saved

During Health Questions in the House of Commons, John Baron MP asked the Minister for Cancer Services, Paul Burstow MP, about the inclusion of various cancer survival rates in the reformed NHS and the consequent improvement in earlier diagnosis. Our survival rates are poor relative to other countries because we diagnose cancer too late. By highlighting survival rates, the local NHS will introduce measures to encourage earlier diagnosis.

Following pressure from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer and others, the Government has included one- and five-year survival rates inside the NHS Outcomes Framework. However, the one year survival rate is not yet in the Commissioning Outcomes Framework.

In addition, because the population sizes of the new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will generally be smaller than those of existing Primary Care Trusts, survival figures will be less statistically robust. Consequently, proxy measures will need to be used to supplement the one- and five-year figures. Such measures include the number of cancers first detected at A&E wards and the stage at which cancer is first detected.

John said,

“The Minister will fully understand the importance of early diagnosis with regard cancer outcomes and tackling cancer inequalities. May I therefore urge the Government to include the one year outcome measure in the Commissioning Outcome Framework, so that we can measure the performance of Clinical Commissioning Groups.”

The Minister responded that John has been pursuing this issue vigorously and agreed that such measures were important to encourage earlier diagnosis.

Afterwards, John said,

“It is vitally important that the one year survival rates are incorporated into the Commissioning Outcomes Framework. We also need to include other measures in order to assess how well the local NHS is performing, including the number of cancers first detected at A & E wards and the stage at which cancer is first detected.”

“5,000 lives a year could be saved in this country if our survival rates were just up to the European average – let alone the best. This illustrates the importance of this issue.”

• John is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer