§ 29. Mr. ColmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to improve patient access to specialists in cancer treatment. [46631]
§ Mr. BoatengWe are committed to improving cancer services so that all patients have access to high quality, specialist and patient-centred services, wherever they may live. As a first step we made available an additional £10 million for breast cancer services to speed access to diagnosis and high quality services. We have also announced a further £10 million for improvements to colorectal cancer services. The White Paper, "The New NHS" guarantees that everyone with suspected cancer will be able to see a specialist within two weeks of their general practitioner deciding that they need to be seen urgently and requesting an appointment. This will be achieved by April 1999 for breast cancer, and for all cancers by 2000.