Written question asked by Yvonne Fovargue (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 July 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 4 September 2012. It was answered by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 4 September 2012 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Breast Cancer

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the recent findings on patient experience from the National Cancer Intelligence Network data collection project on recurrent and metastatic breast cancer.

[118227]

Answer

During 2011-12, we piloted the collection of metastatic and recurrent breast cancer data to identify what information could be collated from routine national health service data and cancer registries. In March 2012, the report ‘Recurrent and Metastatic Breast Cancer Data Collection Project Pilot’ was published. This set out the lessons learned and recommendations for routine collection of data, which is currently under way.

The pilot also collected data about access to supportive care from a clinical nurse specialist (CNS), palliative care professional or other key worker. A little over a half of patients in the pilot were recorded as being offered such support. We know that this is much lower than the proportion of breast cancer patients who generally report having a CNS. As set out in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Breast Cancer Quality Standard, published in January 2012, women with breast cancer

should be offered supportive care. NICE is developing Quality Standards for a number of cancers, which will act as markers of high quality, cost-effective patient care in NHS.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 118227; 549 cc308-9W
Session: 2012-13
Subjects: Databases Breast cancer Patients
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Breast Cancer

Secondary information

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