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Written question asked by Baroness Redfern (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 October 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 15 October 2019. It was answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 October 2019 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Cancer: Screening

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to using (1) smartphone bookings, (2) text reminders, (3) evening appointments, and (4) accessible locations, for cancer screening appointments; and what assessment, if any, they have made of whether such measures would increase (a) the uptake of such screenings, and (b) early diagnosis.

Answer

NHS England recognises the importance of delivering public health services, including screening, which people find easy to access. This is why the NHS Long Term Plan and detailed improvement actions are about ensuring services are easy and convenient for people to use in order to deliver the Long Term Plan ambition on cancer to see 55,000 more people surviving cancer for five years in England each year from 2028.

The actions plans include real-world case studies which have demonstrated improvements in local areas. These case studies sit alongside widely published evidence which has been proven to deliver improvements in uptake. We expect these actions to have a positive impact on the uptake of screening.

Sir Mike Richards’ Review of Screening report is due to be published shortly which will identify additional opportunities to improve the uptake of breast, bowel, and cervical screening. In addition, NHSX is looking at possible improvements to screening IT systems, which should support the delivery of cancer screening programmes.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL17978
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Cancer Screening
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk