§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many teenagers with cancer have been treated in adult wards in the last year at(a) Worthing Hospital and (b) Sussex County Hospital, Brighton; [109924]
(2) what steps are being taken by the Adur, Arun and Worthing Primary Care Trust to improve diagnosis of teenage cancers; [109925]
(3) what plans he has to introduce a teenager cancer trust unit in the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. [109923]
§ Ms BlearsInformation at ward level is not centrally collected. Hospital episode statistics only holds data for admitted patient care at the level of national health service hospitals trusts.
There are no current plans to introduce a teenage cancer trust unit in the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. However, the Adur, Arun and Worthing Primary Care Trust is committed to working with other members of the Sussex Cancer Network to strengthen and further develop local services for teenage patients.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is in the process of updating the Department of Health's Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, to help general practitioners identify those patients who are most likely to have cancer and therefore require urgent assessment by a specialist. NICE is also producing Improving Outcomes guidance for child and adolescent cancers to ensure services for these patients are capable of achieving consistently good outcomes.
In addition, we are providing funding through the national cancer research network to enable more teenage cancer patients to enter trials of the latest treatments.