No assessment has been made.

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) is made up of a number of funding streams comprising over 30 topics and aim to mirror the priority areas set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Quality Board (NQB) established an NQB NCAPOP Partners Group, with representation from NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Health Education England, amongst others, to ensure the NCAPOP portfolio continues to support the priorities of the wider National Health Service.

NCAPOP audits are commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which manages the programme on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have contractual accountability meetings to review the Key Performance indicators associated with the NCAPOP contract.

The following expenditure was provided for NCAPOP in recent years:

- 2016/17; £16.9 million;

- 2017/18; £16.9 million;

- 2018/19; £15.8 million; and

- 2019/20; £15.6 million.

Clinical audits delivered under the NCAPOP portfolio can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/a-z-of-nca/#.XAlJvcK7KUk

NCAPOP outcome review of delivered work can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/clinical-outcome-review-programmes/#.XiseTmC7JPY

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) is made up of a number of funding streams comprising over 30 topics and aim to mirror the priority areas set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Quality Board (NQB) established an NQB NCAPOP Partners Group, with representation from NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Health Education England, amongst others, to ensure the NCAPOP portfolio continues to support the priorities of the wider National Health Service.

NCAPOP audits are commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which manages the programme on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have contractual accountability meetings to review the Key Performance indicators associated with the NCAPOP contract.

The following expenditure was provided for NCAPOP in recent years:

- 2016/17; £16.9 million;

- 2017/18; £16.9 million;

- 2018/19; £15.8 million; and

- 2019/20; £15.6 million.

Clinical audits delivered under the NCAPOP portfolio can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/a-z-of-nca/#.XAlJvcK7KUk

NCAPOP outcome review of delivered work can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/clinical-outcome-review-programmes/#.XiseTmC7JPY

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) is made up of a number of funding streams comprising over 30 topics and aim to mirror the priority areas set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Quality Board (NQB) established an NQB NCAPOP Partners Group, with representation from NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Health Education England, amongst others, to ensure the NCAPOP portfolio continues to support the priorities of the wider National Health Service.

NCAPOP audits are commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which manages the programme on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have contractual accountability meetings to review the Key Performance indicators associated with the NCAPOP contract.

The following expenditure was provided for NCAPOP in recent years:

- 2016/17; £16.9 million;

- 2017/18; £16.9 million;

- 2018/19; £15.8 million; and

- 2019/20; £15.6 million.

Clinical audits delivered under the NCAPOP portfolio can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/a-z-of-nca/#.XAlJvcK7KUk

NCAPOP outcome review of delivered work can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/clinical-outcome-review-programmes/#.XiseTmC7JPY

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) is made up of a number of funding streams comprising over 30 topics and aim to mirror the priority areas set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Quality Board (NQB) established an NQB NCAPOP Partners Group, with representation from NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Health Education England, amongst others, to ensure the NCAPOP portfolio continues to support the priorities of the wider National Health Service.

NCAPOP audits are commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which manages the programme on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have contractual accountability meetings to review the Key Performance indicators associated with the NCAPOP contract.

The following expenditure was provided for NCAPOP in recent years:

- 2016/17; £16.9 million;

- 2017/18; £16.9 million;

- 2018/19; £15.8 million; and

- 2019/20; £15.6 million.

Clinical audits delivered under the NCAPOP portfolio can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/a-z-of-nca/#.XAlJvcK7KUk

NCAPOP outcome review of delivered work can be found at the following link:

https://www.hqip.org.uk/clinical-outcome-review-programmes/#.XiseTmC7JPY

No decisions on awarding the contract to prepare the next National Lung Cancer Audit have currently been made. The current contract is due to expire on 31 March 2020.

The current scheduled publication date for next National Lung Cancer Audit report is Thursday 11 June 2020.

The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership commissions, develops and manages the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) on behalf of NHS England.

Currently, there are five cancer clinical audits including breast cancer in older people. The newly established NCAPOP partners group will look at opportunities to review the audit programme based on audit commissioning cycle opportunity and eligibility criteria related to alignment with National Health Service priorities, like the forthcoming long-term plan for the NHS, impact, value and need.

NCAPOP is made up of a rolling programme of audits commissioned at different times on a 3-5 year basis.

The Department has not had any recent discussions with Dr Andrew Baranowski of the British Pain Society regarding surgical mesh.

Public Health England (PHE) has been funded by cancer charities to pilot and assess the feasibility of an ovarian cancer audit, this pilot will take place over the next two years.

Since early diagnosis increases survival outcomes, NHS England is working to diagnose cancer earlier and faster. This is particularly important for cancers like ovarian, where early diagnosis makes a huge difference in survival. We are developing new models of care and pathways that will transform services by speeding up diagnosis. This includes the commitment to roll out a new Faster Diagnosis Standard by 2020 to ensure that patients referred for an investigation with a suspicion of cancer are diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days.

NHS England has also committed more than £200 million in cancer services between 2017 and 2019, to accelerate diagnosis, improve survival and enhance quality of life.

NHS England is introducing Rapid Diagnostic and Assessment Centres which will operate as one-stop shops to reduce time-to diagnosis and time-to-first treatment. This is a real step change in the way people with unclear symptoms are identified, diagnosed and treated. General practitioners can refer patients suffering from vague symptoms.

NHS England is also delivering the largest single upgrade in National Health Service cancer treatment for the last 15 years. The £130 million radiotherapy modernisation programme is upgrading and replacing radiotherapy equipment in hospitals across England. Through this programme, patients will have access to the most modern, innovative radiotherapy techniques to create better health outcomes and improve patient experience.

The Department is also closely working with PHE to develop an approach to raise awareness of generic symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers, including ovarian cancer, and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms.

PHE also ran a regional pilot ovarian campaign in the North West of England from 10 February to 16 March 2014. The campaign’s key message was ‘Feeling bloated, most days, for three weeks or more could be a sign of ovarian cancer. Tell your doctor’.

Following publication of NHS Digital’s ‘Retrospective Review of Surgery for Urogynaecological Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence using Tape or Mesh’, at the request of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (Lord O’Shaughnessy), the Chief Medical Officer sought views on what the data tells us and what further questions it raises from arm’s length bodies, professional groups/societies, academics and campaign groups.

The arm’s length bodies and professional groups/societies approached were NHS England, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Surgeons, Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the British Society of Urogynaecology.

The Department is also in dialogue with NHS England, NICE, MHRA and NHS Digital on the matter.

NHS England will hold discussions over the next six months on potential new clinical audit topics including ovarian cancer.

United Kingdom Standards for Microbiology Investigations (UK SMIs) B 37: Investigation of blood cultures (for organisms other than Mycobacterium species) are developed by the UK SMI Working Groups under the auspices of Public Health England. SMI B 37 describes the processing and microbiological investigation of blood cultures and aims to set standards for each stage of the investigative process. These can then be used as a benchmark to audit against by certification and accreditation bodies if they wish.

The UK SMIs are not mandatory and there is no legal obligation to follow the recommendations in UK SMIs. In using UK SMIs, laboratories should take account of local requirements and undertake additional investigations where appropriate.

UK SMIs are National Institute for Health and Care Excellence accredited and represent a good standard of practice. NHS England has included compliance with UK SMIs in the National Health Service Standard Contract 2017-18.

NHS Digital published an audit on 17 April 2018, titled ‘Retrospective Review of Surgery for Urogynaecological Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence using Tape or Mesh’. An executive summary of the report is attached.

The audit reviews Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data. HES data contains details of all admissions, outpatient appointments and accident and emergency attendances at National Health Service hospitals in England. It includes private patients treated in NHS hospitals, patients who were resident outside of England and care delivered by treatment centres, including those in the independent sector, funded by the NHS.

The Department is engaged in ongoing dialogue with arm’s length bodies to assess how it can continue to build on the evidence base for surgical mesh. This includes discussion of areas of concern beyond urogynaecological mesh – i.e. mesh used in surgical procedures to treat rectal prolapse.