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Breast Cancer: Medical Treatments

Asked by Steve DarlingLiberal DemocratDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 25 July 2025UIN 67558

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing treatment options for people with Secondary Breast Cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

To assess the adequacy of existing treatment options for people with secondary breast cancer, NHS England funded an audit into primary and metastatic breast cancer. Using routine data collected from patients diagnosed in a National Health Service setting, the audit brings together information to look at what is being done well, where it’s being done well, and what needs to be done better. On 12 September 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published this audit, and the NHS is now acting on the findings.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluates all new licensed medicines and makes recommendations on whether they should be routinely funded by the NHS based on their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE. Since April 2018, NICE has recommended 24 of the 25 breast cancer medicines it has evaluated, and they are now available for the treatment of NHS patients.

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