Written question asked by Sharon Hodgson (Labour) on Thursday, 26 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 January 2006. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Monday, 27 February 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Herceptin

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent to which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance on the use of Herceptin to treat metastatic breast cancer has been implemented across the NHS in England.

Answer: In June 2004, the National Cancer Director published a report on variations in usage of cancer drugs approved by the then National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).This report showed considerable variation in usage of drugs, including Herceptin, between cancer networks and sets out a number of recommendations to address this. One of the recommendations was to ensure that action plans were developed to respond to the report findings.The action plans were encouraging, confirming that the profile of implementing NICE appraisals has increased and that where problems have been identified they have been, or are in the process of being, addressed.An update of Professor Richard's report will be published later this year to confirm if variations have been reduced as a result of these actions.

Secondary information