§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of how the two week wait rule for skin cancer has affected the waiting times for the treatment of urgent non-cancerous skin conditions. [145144]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 5 January 2003]: The two week outpatient waiting time standard was introduced for urgent cases of suspected cancer from December 2000. Performance data is published 621W quarterly and currently (as at 30 September 2003) shows that 98.7 per cent. of patients urgently referred for suspected skin cancer who fall within the standard were seen within 14 days.
By 2005, there will be targets of a maximum one month wait from diagnosis to treatment and a maximum two month wait from urgent general practitioner referral to treatment for all cancers.
Comparable data on urgent referrals for non-cancer skin conditions is not collected centrally and therefore no assessment has been made of the impact of the cancer two week wait upon waiting times for treatment of non-cancer skin conditions.
§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness and benefits of rapid referral clinics for skin cancer. [145145]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 5 January 2003]: The Department has commissioned the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop guidance on skin tumours, including melanoma, for use in the National Health Service in England and Wales. This guidance will advise on the optimal configuration of diagnostic and treatment services for patients with skin cancer. In developing this guidance, NICE will assess the best available evidence in order to make recommendations on the optimum provision of skin
Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS) Staff, General Medical Practitioners, Practice staff and Non-Medical staff employed within the specified PCTs, as at 30 September 2002—England Number (headcount) of which: of which: of which: of which: All staff HCHS Staff Medical Staff Dental Staff All General Medical Practitioners 2 NHS PlanGPs3 Unrestricted Principal and Equivalents (UPEs)4 5AF North Peterborough PCT 708 4 2 2 58 57 57 5AG South Peterborough PCT 453 8 8 — 59 52 52 5GF Huntingdonshire PCT 1,045 81 72 9 104 89 89 5JH Cambridge City PCT 806 7 7 — 100 86 86 5JJ South Cambridgeshire PCT 562 17 12 5 77 63 62 5JK East Cambridgeshire and Fenland PCT 1,108 1 1 — 90 78 78 RCX Kings Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals NHS Trust 2,360 214 205 9 — — — RGN Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust 3,446 282 269 13 — — — RGP James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust 2,776 205 193 12 — — — RGQ Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust 3,527 297 280 17 — — — RGR West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust 2,582 201 198 3 — — — RGT Addenbrookes NHS Trust 6,186 754 740 14 — — — RM1 Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust 5,277 521 504 17 — — — RQQ Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust 1,585 121 121 — — — — 622W
of which: Practice staffs5 employed by UPEs Total Non-Medical Staff Professionally qualified clinical staff Support to clinical staff NHS infrastructure support Other and unknown 5AF North Peterborough PCT 231 415 214 154 47 — 5AG South Peterborough PCT 148 238 140 62 36 — 5GF Huntingdonshire PCT 314 546 291 139 116 — 5JH Cambridge City PCT 291 408 208 157 37 6 5JJ South Cambridgeshire PCT 247 221 130 48 43 — 5JK East Cambridgeshire and Fenland PCT 260 757 387 287 83 — RCX Kings Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals NHS Trust — 2,146 902 790 451 3 RGN Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust — 3,164 1,447 1,270 441 6 RGP James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust — 2,571 992 1,077 501 1 RGQ Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust — 3,230 1,722 1,165 343 — RGR West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust – 2,381 1,175 834 372 — RGT Addenbrookes NHS Trust — 5,432 2,984 1,767 681 — RMI Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust — 4,756 2,410 1,932 409 5 RQQ Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust — 1,464 685 462 315 2 cancer services. This will include consideration of a variety of settings and workforce roles. The guidance is due to be published in March 2005.
In addition, we have asked NICE to update the referral guidelines for suspected cancer published by the Department in April 2000, to assist general practitioners in determining those patients who are most likely to have cancer and therefore need to be referred urgently to see a specialist. Both the existing guidance and the revised guidance will address skin cancers.