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Extract from the report

Cancer

32. The C&AG’s report shows that there has been a significant and sustained improvement in survival rates for cancer. The Department’s Correspondence to the Committee, provides details on the most up-to-date figures available and some performance comparisons with England. These show that, while further progress is still to be made, cancer survival rates across many of the main cancers have improved. Survival rates for the main cancer sites are broadly similar between Northern Ireland and England, however, survival rates are better in Northern Ireland for lung cancer (for both men and women) and cancer of the oesophagus in men. Conversely, relative survival for bladder cancer in women is worse in Northern Ireland than England.

33. The Committee recommends that the Department makes full use of comparative data on cancer survival rates to benchmark the performance of Trusts in Northern Ireland against those in England and other regions. In areas where performance in Northern Ireland lags behind elsewhere, the Committee recommends that the Department explores systematically what can be learned from different approaches applied in other regions.

34. DHSSPS acknowledged that reducing the lower survival rates among men, due to smoking and drinking related cancers, remained a challenging task. The target to improve the cancer survival rate is gender neutral, however, DHSSPS explained that this overall target reflected different programmes which had been developed to address the issue of gender specific differences in responses and behaviours. It accepted that tackling the gender gap may require it to refine its approach to targeting.

35. The Committee recommends that, in addition to a population-based approach to targeting cancers, it will be important to refine the overall target to focus specifically on reducing the gap in cancer survival rates between men and women.

36. Cancer waiting time targets were introduced in 2007-08 and the Department told the Committee that, as such, it is still too early to quantify the specific impact of the introduction of the targets on cancer patient survival as the calculation of survival rates requires the follow-up of patients for a number of years after diagnosis. The Department also told the Committee that it is not always the case that failing to meet the target that 95 per cent of cancer patients should receive treatment within 62 days of referral will have a direct impact on the progress of the disease. However, it acknowledged that it is important for patients’ confidence to feel that they are being dealt with urgently. DHSSPS indicated that its performance on this target was similar to that of England, but it aspired to achieve the better performance levels experienced in Scotland and Wales.

37. The Committee is concerned that the failure to meet the target waiting times for cancer treatment are also adding to the pain and suffering of patients and their families. The Committee welcomes the Department’s recognition that it is important for patients’ confidence to feel that they are being dealt with urgently. We recommend that DHSSPS examines closely the better performance of NHS hospitals in Scotland and Wales to draw out and implement any positive lessons.