Looking after people with cancer is a big part of the planned care we deliver across all our FTs. Our teams work together across the region to help treat people quickly and plan their care.
Our aim is to detect cancer as early as we can and get people the support they need. We still have more work to do to improve on our cancer waiting times in line with national standards.
“73% of patients in our region knew if they had cancer or not within 28 days. The goal is 75%.”
“69% of patients in our region had treatment for their cancer within 62 days of seeing their GP. The goal is 85%.”
Our work this year has focused on creating more consistent pathways to help with this. This will also help improve experiences of care.
Non-surgical oncology programme
We continued work with the Northern Cancer Alliance on non-surgical oncology services (how we deliver radiotherapy and chemotherapy).
These are specialist services which two of our FTs run. Consultants travel across the region to see patients in clinics closer to where they live. Because of gaps in this workforce, we had to review how and where local clinics took place. This was to make sure all patients had fast and equal access to care and treatment.
This review is now complete. We have agreed a model of care. This is in place in the north of the region. It will improve access and support more consistent care for patients. Services will be stronger with less risk of staffing issues. The south of the region still needs to deliver the new model fully.
Systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) prescribing
Across our FTs, we use three different system to prescribe SACT treatment. These are the drug treatments that travel through the bloodstream to treat cancer. They include:
- Chemotherapy: This kills cancer cells directly that are growing fast.
- Immunotherapy: This helps the immune system to fight cancer.
- Targeted therapy: This attacks specific genes or proteins in cancer cells.
- Hormone therapy: This blocks hormones that help certain cancers grow.
This year we have started work to develop a case to move to one shared digital system for this. Our aim is to make care more efficient with consistent treatment plans and less risks.
Cancer patient experience
Feedback from people who receive cancer care in the region is high. The latest national Cancer Patient Experience Survey shows strong results. Patients feel involved in decisions and that their care teams work well together.
By continuing to work across our FTs and learn from each other, our aim is to make cancer care even better. We want to make sure experience of cancer care is consistently high across the region.
