John Baron MP presses Health Secretary on Earlier Diagnosis for cancer

MP says NHS England’s decision could save thousands of lives

During Health Questions today in the House of Commons, John Baron MP asked the Health Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, about cancer survival rates.

John asked,

“The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer and wider cancer community have commended the Government for placing one-year cancer survival rates in the Delivery Dashboard from April for each Clinical Commissioning Group, as a means of promoting earlier diagnosis. What work is being undertaken to ensure the levers of accountability are in place so that underperforming CCGs raise their standards on behalf of patients?”

The Secretary of State responded by congratulating John on his work on cancer data transparency, and stated that primary responsibility for monitoring survival rates lies with NHS England.

John said afterwards,

“The best way of improving one-year cancer survival rates is to improve earlier diagnosis – cancer’s ‘magic key’ – as the earlier a cancer is detected, the more successfully it can be treated.”

“NHS England’s decision to place one-year cancer survival rates at the top of the NHS ‘Accountability Tree’ could quite literally save thousands of lives. Now we have the ‘tools in the toolbox’, we must use this data to ensure underperforming Clinical Commissioning Groups raise their standards.”