§ 9. Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham) (LD)If he will make a statement on the cancers for which he proposes to introduce NHS screening programmes. [177293]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Melanie Johnson)We are committed to introducing new screening programmes where it is clear that they will save lives. We will introduce a national bowel cancer screening programme which is currently under development, and a prostate cancer screening programme if and when screening and treatment techniques are sufficiently developed.
§ Dr. CableI welcome the expansion of screening programmes, but can the Minister be a little more precise about nationwide screening in respect of bowel cancer, which kills 17,000 people a year? When does she expect to be able to roll out a nationwide screening programme, and when do the Government expect that sufficient staff will be trained in endoscopy to enable such a programme to be fully effective?
§ Miss JohnsonWe have run the first phase of a screening trial based in Nottinghamshire and we are reviewing the results. We are in the second phase of that trial, and as part of it we need to consider aspects such as hard-to-reach groups. We anticipate having some results by 2006–07. In the meantime we are making £9 million available over three years to train more GPs, nurses, surgeons and gastroenterologists to meet the rising demand for endoscopy—that is a key issue—and we have established three national and seven regional centres to train medical staff in endoscopy.
§ Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge) (Lab)I, too, welcome the expansion of the screening programmes, but does my hon. Friend agree that there is still a problem at the GP level, as GPs have difficulty in deciding whether patients require routine or urgent referrals, particularly in some of the rarer cancers? Will she ensure that better guidance is given to GPs about these matters?
§ Miss JohnsonI agree with my hon. Friend that that distinction is important. Some 99 per cent. of patients with suspected cancer are urgently referred to specialists and seen within a fortnight, and premature deaths from cancer have fallen by 10 per cent. since 1995–97. I agree with my hon. Friend that we must continue to work with GPs and the royal colleges on improving awareness, particularly of those cancers on which it is more difficult for GPs to decide whether to make an urgent referral.
§ Mr. Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)The Minister will also be aware of success in screening for aortic aneurisms—a pilot scheme is currently being run in west Sussex, and it saves hundreds of lives. When will she announce her decision whether to expand that pilot scheme nation wide?
§ Miss JohnsonIn due course.