Steve Brine discussed digital breast screening and early diagnosis as the Commons debated the NHS Commissioning Board Mandate on Tuesday 13th November.
The MP, who co-chairs the All Party Breast Cancer Group, asked Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, if he agreed that the NHS must move faster in making the switch to digital breast screening in order to help spot cancer early.
Mr Hunt agreed, saying that early diagnosis could be hugely transformational in terms of patient outcomes. He said: "Many patients would be astonished to know that a full medical record is not available to consultants in hospitals before they operate on them. We need to put that right because it could transform the decisions that surgeons take in extreme cases. So my hon. Friend is right, and we must press on with this very fast."
During the debate, Ministers gave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) a strengthened commitment to ensure their autonomy, and new powers to rate the performance of the NHS Commissioning Board. The board will be held to account on whether it achieves 'the best health outcomes for patients by strengthening the local autonomy of CCGs' and there is also an additional pledge that every year the government will assess the board's progress, inviting feedback from CCGs and other groups.
The commissioning board's role is described as "not a manager of the system, but a convener". It will be responsible for encouraging competition between peers for better quality, but is also required to work with a number of partner organisations, including Monitor and the Local Government Association, to drive integration.
It is hoped that this will help create a system of mutual accountability between the board and the CCGs, instead of a 'one-way system' in which CCGs exist under top-down control.
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See the exchange on Hansard