Written question asked by Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 December 2025. It was answered by Karin Smyth (Labour) on Monday, 22 December 2025 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to PET-CT procurement in England on diagnostic access for patients from Northern Ireland who rely on specialist capacity elsewhere in the UK.

Answer: NHS England is in the process of reprocuring some positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) services to replace current contracts that are due to expire at the end of March 2027. The geographies covered by the existing contracts will continue to be covered under the new arrangements, so no impact on diagnostic access is expected for patients from Northern Ireland who rely on specialist capacity elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The current arrangements for patients travelling to England for PET-CT and other treatments remains unchanged.

Secondary information