To ask the Minister of Health when he will implement the use of Cytosponge to identify oesophageal conditions such as Barret's oesophagus.

Officials at the Health and Social Care Board are aware of recent trials on the use of Cytosponge for early detection of Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal cancer showing positive results. Therefore decisions to commission the test will be guided by evidence and will be considered alongside other cancer priorities and in the context of the available resource.

In contributing towards evidence on use of Cytosponge all Trusts have enrolled in the DELTA study developed by University of Cambridge.

It is intended that Northern Ireland will join the research arm for patients with known Barrett’s Oesophagus (risk factor of Oesophageal cancer) who would usually have endoscopic surveillance. For these individuals Cytosponge test will provide information on their risk through use of additional biomarkers and can be used to help prioritise patients for endoscopy.

However due to COVID 19 and significant unscheduled care pressures on the service and nursing capacity, planning for DELTA has been paused in agreement with the DELTA team at Cambridge. The position is to be evaluated again early February (patients can be recruited until Dec 22). Full trust participation in the DELTA project will be funding dependent.

I remain fully committed to the improvement of cancer outcomes through early detection and this is a focus of the upcoming Cancer Strategy due to be published next month.