§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into relative survival rates following diagnosis of cancer in the UK and the rest of Europe. [63]
§ Yvette CooperThe Department, through the European Union, is contributing to the funding of a set of studies known as the Eurocare studies. These are continually comparing cancer survival outcomes, treatment practice and diagnostic practice across Europe in patients diagnosed since the late 1970s. The Eurocare studies have produced evidence to suggest that, for many cancers, survival rates for patients a decade ago are lower in this country than in other comparable European countries.
The Department held a workshop in March 2000 to look at the Eurocare data on cancer survival rates, and there were two main conclusions. First, the poorer survival rates in the United Kingdom reported for many cancer types were to a large extent real. Secondly, for breast and colorectal cancer it appears that the poor 719W survival rates in the UK can be attributed at least in part to patients having more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. The NHS Cancer Plan of September 2000 took account of these conclusions, setting out the actions required to achieve earlier diagnosis and to ensure patients receive high quality treatment.
The Department funded pilot work on the UK component of further Eurocare studies of survival rates for breast, bowel and prostate cancer in early 2000. The Department is currently considering whether to provide further support for this study.
The Department has recently commissioned, under the Inequalities in Health initiative, a project that investigates inequalities in cancer incidence and survival for the population of England and Wales over 45 years of age. The focus will be on socio-demographic inequalities that cannot be estimated from cancer registry data.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many urgent referrals for suspected cancer were made by general practitioners; how many such referrals were not seen within the two-week target; and how many breaches of the two-week target there were, expressed as a percentage of the relevant number of referrals, in the NHS in England, broken down by health authority and each hospital trust for the year ended 31 March. [3222]
§ Yvette CooperThe information available has been placed in the Library. Data on urgent cases of suspected breast cancer are available for 2000–01, and for other suspected cancers for the final quarter of that year.
The White Paper "The new NHS—Modern, Dependable" set the standard 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. These arrangements were guaranteed for everyone with suspected breast cancer from April 1999 and were introduced for all other urgent cases of suspected cancer during 2000. Central monitoring of the all-cancer two week standard began on 1 January 2001. Figures will be available later this year.
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish data on the incidence of cancer in the Avon area using the same criteria as those used by Dr. Chris Busby in his investigation of the links between cancer and proximity to Oldbury nuclear power station. [5893]
§ Yvette CooperWard level data contain patient identifiable information and are therefore not in the public domain. Access to these data is granted to researchers following approval of the research project by the ethics committee of the relevant health authority.