§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will amend the Cancer Patient Information Strategy to ensure that information on(a) diagnosis and (b) treatment is available for all people affected by (i) breast cancer and (ii) cancer in general who want it. [137454]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe provision of a range of high quality, accurate, culturally sensitive and timely information materials about cancer and cancer services for patients and carers throughout the course of their illness is one of the key recommendations in the NHS Cancer Plan (September 2000). It is also in the draft National Institute for Clinical Excellence's supportive and palliative care guidance, due to be published in February 2004. These build on the Cancer Information Strategy, published in June 2000,
Work to address this need is being taken forward by the coalition for cancer information (CCI). The CCI, which was formed in June 2002, brings together
576W producers and consumers of cancer information, including Breast Cancer Care, CancerBACUP and Macmillan Cancer Relief. The role of the CCI is to oversee the development of high quality information materials for those affected by cancer. It is presently taking forward work on quality assurance and accreditation and it will also address issues concerning the development of information, dissemination and delivery to patients.
Headquarters East Midlands Eastern London North East North West Number of Inspectors on Establishment (wte) 0.00 113.25 122.61 133.76 74.91 204.01 Headcount of Inspectors in Post 0 110 128 146 75 199 Number of Inspectors in Post (wte) 0.00 103.31 122.30 136.46 72.41 191.10 Vacancies 0.00 9.94 0.31 -2.70 2.50 12.91 Percentage of Inspectors in post 0.00 91.22 99.75 102.02 96.66 93.67