HC Deb 21 December 1999 vol 341 cc649-51
2. Mr. James Clappison (Hertsmere)

What recent representations he has received about the availability of cancer treatment. [102261]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Yvette Cooper)

The Government receive many representations about the availability of cancer treatment from the public, and from professional organisations.

The Government have made cancer one of their top priorities, and have appointed Professor Mike Richards national cancer director. Professor Richards has already started to meet professional groups to discuss future developments in the improvement of cancer care.

Mr. Clappison

As prostate cancer is set to become the commonest male cancer in the next millennium, is there not a strong case for a prostate screening programme for men of the appropriate age? When can we expect such a programme?

Yvette Cooper

Prostate cancer kills about 10,000 men each year, and we take it extremely seriously. Population screening is not currently recommended, on the advice of the national screening committee, but, as I have said, we take the issue seriously, and have asked the committee to re-examine it in the new year. It will be doing so.

Mr. Win Griffiths (Bridgend)

We have the CalmanHine guidelines relating to cancer services, but we know that they have not been followed in all parts of the NHS. Will my hon. Friend take it on herself to ensure that best practice is observed throughout the health service, so that all cancer sufferers are given the best possible treatment regardless of where they live?

Yvette Cooper

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and we are committed to ending the unacceptable lottery of care—the postcode lottery—throughout the country. Even more unacceptable is the fact that those who are least likely to survive cancer live in low-income areas. We have appointed Professor Mike Richards as national cancer director so that he can examine exactly those issues, and improve cancer care across the board.

Mr. Nick Harvey (North Devon)

The Government's new priority on cancer is welcome, but are they not putting the cart before the horse in establishing the policy of a two-week wait between referral and consultation? How many trusts are meeting that target? Is the World Health Organisation not correct in saying that the policy is flawed unless the necessary resources are provided to ensure that it can be delivered?

Yvette Cooper

I can tell the hon. Gentleman for a start that, according to the most recent figures, 95 per cent. of women who are referred urgently in connection with breast cancer are seen within two weeks. That has been the first roll-out of the two-week wait; we will extend it in regard to other cancers over the next two years.

I am surprised by Opposition Members' objection to the two-week wait. Patients with suspected cancer are extremely anxious. Will Opposition Members go into the next election promising to end the two-week wait?

Mr. David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire)

I congratulate the ministerial team on the launch of the cancer services collaborative. It includes nine national networks, one of which is in Leicestershire and involves the north-west Lancashire primary care group and Glenfield hospital. Is my hon. Friend aware of the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over that hospital, and especially over the breast care unit, which was opened by the last Secretary of State for Health? Will she give careful consideration to any proposals from the area health authority that would downgrade the hospital and jeopardise the excellent work done by the breast care unit and by the hospital in general?

Yvette Cooper

I shall certainly look into those points. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the introduction of cancer collaboratives is an example of superb and best practice in introducing and improving cancer care across the country. The collaboratives will smooth patients' experience, so that they no longer have to wait and are able to book admissions and receive care when they want it.

Dr. Liam Fox (Woodspring)

The director of the Cancer Research Campaign's education group says that the Government's cancer initiative has led to a waste of resources and a waste of specialist time. The professor of cancer medicine at Imperial college says that the whole approach is flawed. He also said that we have a shortage of more than 500 cancer specialists, a £1.2 billion backlog in radiotherapy equipment, and need £170 million a year more for chemotherapy. Which of those figures does the Minister think is wrong?

Yvette Cooper

As the hon. Gentleman raises those points, I assume that he will welcome the 6.8 per cent. cash increase to health authorities across the country, which allows them not only to improve treatment for cancer care and treatment, but to address all health issues. Whereas the Government are committed to ending the unacceptable lottery of care, Conservative Members want to replace it with a new lottery which is based on patients' ability to pay.

Dr. Fox

That was an appalling evasion even for a Minister in this Government. Although the Minister has decided to give the soundbite of the day rather than answer any questions in the House, will she say why—when we are supposed to have a national health service, and the cancer initiative is under way—the proportion of patients seen within two weeks varies so hugely across the country? The fact is that 98 per cent. of patients in the south-west have been seen within two weeks, whereas the percentage is only 61 per cent. in the north-west. Why?

Yvette Cooper

As I said, we are determined to end the unacceptable lottery of care. Who does the hon. Gentleman think introduced the lottery of care in the United Kingdom? It was introduced by the previous Government. They introduced the internal market, which has created unacceptable variations in care right across the country. This Government are determined to do something about the situation, and we are implementing policies to do exactly that.

Dr. Fox

We have a Health Minister who cannot answer the basic questions asked by the professor at Imperial College and who does not know why cancer outcomes in the north-west are so bad. We also have huge regional variations in access to care; poorer outcomes than comparable countries in cancer treatment; staff shortages; and, now, rationing of medicines and half a million people simply waiting to get on the waiting list. In other words, we have a national health service that is not national, and in which health targets are not being met and services are well below par. Is it not true that, in Labour's so-called year of delivery, the Government's health policies are a complete and unmitigated disaster?

Yvette Cooper

The hon. Gentleman refers to international comparisons, but the most extensive international comparisons date from the mid-1990s. I am therefore still wondering who he thinks is responsible for the condition of cancer care in the United Kingdom. The Government have made delivering on cancer our top priority, and that is exactly what we shall do. That is why we have spent an extra £70 million on improving cancer care since the general election, and why we shall spend an additional £80 million on it in the next two years. How would Conservative Members afford any of those improvements, given that they believe that our increased health spending is reckless and irresponsible?