Frozen tissue brain cancer treatment

That this House recognises that malignant brain tumour prognosis remains dismal and that treatment has barely changed in the last 50 years; notes that many new innovative testing and treatment techniques make use of the biological information stored in tumour tissue samples; further notes that to remain usable for these techniques such tissue samples need to be fresh frozen at -80 degrees C rather than stored in paraffin wax which is the current norm; is concerned that the NHS currently has insufficient appropriate freezer capacity and this is a significant contributory factor to the NHS’s ongoing failure to provide the NICE recommended whole genome sequencing for brain tumour patients in England; acknowledges that the lack of freezer capacity could be rectified for the relatively small sum of just a few hundred thousand pounds; supports an associated need for updated guidance to clinicians to ensure patients have the right to exercise informed consent as to how their tissue is stored and used; and calls on the Government to work with stakeholders to address the freezer capacity shortage and develop a regime in which patients are equipped to give informed consent on matters relating to tissue storage.