§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the change has been in non-urgent referral waiting times for breast cancer following the introduction of the two-week target for urgent referrals; [141879]
(2) what effect the two week urgent referral target for breast cancer patients has had on (a) other and (b) overall waiting times; [141880]
(3) what assessment he has made of the effect the emphasis on the two-week target for urgent referrals for breast cancer patients has had on the number of patients that would have previously been put on this list being put on the non-urgent referral list. [141881]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 4 December 2003]Data are not collected centrally on waiting times for those women who were not urgently referred with breast conditions and who were later diagnosed with cancer. The two week waiting time standard has been a success with over 98 per cent. of women with suspected breast cancer now seeing a specialist with two weeks of urgent referral. It is vital that general practitioners (GPs) refer suspected breast cancer appropriately and we have issued GP cancer referral guidelines to assist GPs in determining those patients who need to see a specialist urgently within two weeks.
However, the two week waiting time standard should not be seen in isolation but as part of the Government's wider programme for improving and modernizing cancer services. We are making significant extra investment in cancer services (an extra £570 million a year in 2003–04); the biggest ever single cash investment in cancer equipment; extending breast cancer screening, ensuring the provision of additional doctors and nurses working in new ways, and modernization of care provision through the cancer services collaborative.
The maximum waiting time standard of one month from diagnosis to first treatment, from December 2001, also applies to those women who were routinely referred to ensure they receive speedy treatment following diagnosis.