To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the patient experience survey for breast cancer will seek information on the experience of patients with metastatic breast cancer. (177322)

The patient experience survey will cover patients with all cancers, including metastatic breast cancer. An expert group will be set up in the first half of 2008 to design the technical specifications of the National Health Service Cancer Patient Experience Survey programme and a national contract will then be let for the collection, management and analysis of cancer patient experience surveys in 2008-09 with first results expected in 2009-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take to improve the care and experience of patients with metastatic breast cancer. (177323)

The Cancer Reform Strategy sets out a series of actions to improve the care and experience of all cancer patients, including those with secondary breast cancer.

Whether patients are living with or beyond cancer, high quality information and support will be available, tailored to the patient’s personal needs. Action will be taken to inform and empower patients so that they can play as active a role in decisions about their treatment as they wish. Priority will be given to ensuring there is adequate provision of clinical nurse specialists, and effective systems will be in place so that care is seamless from a patient’s perspective. There should be adequate provision of psychological support for patients, their families and carers, and a new national cancer survivorship initiative will be established to improve the ongoing support available to people who have been treated for a cancer. This initiative will include patients who are living with progressive disease and may be receiving treatment but are not in the terminal phase of illness.

In addition, to improve the care and experience of all cancer patients, we need to collect good quality information on cancer services and outcomes, which can be analysed and published in such a way that is useful to patients, commissioners, service providers and other interested parties. To co-ordinate this, a national cancer intelligence network (NCIN) will be developed, building, maintaining and quality assuring a new national repository of cancer data. One of the early products expected from the NCIN will be an evaluation of services for secondary cancer patients in specific tumour areas, including breast cancer.