British Health Secretary Alan Milburn has recently launched the first-ever national standards for cancer care, providing the National Health Services with a key weapon to end the lottery of care for patients.
Milburn also announced a national expansion of the Cancer Collaboratives scheme from April this year backed by an investment of #7.5 million. Currently being piloted in nine areas, the Cancer Service Collaboratives have made dramatic reductions in waiting times for patients - with tests being completed within days instead of months and with cancer care being planned and booked in advance, adding choice and certainty.
The cancer standards are a detailed manual for health professionals, providing a step-by-step guide for better cancer care, better organisation and more information for patients.
The cancer standards form a core part of the NHS Cancer Plan's drive to improve services and save 10,000 lives a year by 2010. Now onwards, NHS hospitals will be able to measure their delivery of services against the standards and from April, hospitals will be visited by teams of cancer experts to assess the hospitals approach to cancer care against the standards.
The manual of cancer standards sets out, in ten topics, guidance on how services and care should be delivered. Trusts will draw up action plans to make up for any shortfalls against the national standards.
1. National Standards for Patient Centred Care - ensuring patients receive the information they need to make informed choices regarding treatment and care.
2. National Standards for quality cancer services - ensuring patients have access to specialist teams including surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, oncologists and nurse specialists.
3. National Standards for Diagnostic services - ensuring hospitals have the right level of staff expertise in imaging and pathology.
4. National Standards for Oncology services - ensuring oncologists are available in cancer units as well as cancer centres.
5. National Standards for Radiotherapy - setting standards for staffing levels and facilities to ensure that patients receive the best treatment and without delay.
6. National Standards for Chemotherapy - setting standards for staffing levels, facilities and guidelines to ensure patients receive the most effective treatment with minimum side effects.
7. National Standards for specialist Palliative Care services - ensuring there are specialist teams in hospitals and the community as well as in hospices.
8. National Standards for Education and Training - ensuring the skills of all staff are kept up to date.
9. National Standards for Communication - developing a system of communication to ensure seamless care between all service providers.
10. National Standards for Management and Organisation - ensuring effective leadership of cancer services across all networks.
The cancer standards will help deliver the tough targets the Government has set for cancer services during the next year. NHS cancer services will get extra investment of #280 million from April this year, rising to an extra #570 million by 2003/4. Alongside long term improvement in cancer services, this investment will deliver substantial immediate changes this year:
In April, women aged 65-70 will be invited for routine breast screening. The national roll out of the Cancer Services Collaborative will begin across all cancer networks. NICE appraisals for anti-cancer drugs will be published for temozolamide for brain cancer, and fludarabine and rituximab for lymphoma. More appraisals will follow between May and July. Peer review visits are to begin to assess cancer services against national standards. New palliative care training initiative for district and community based nurses. National roll out of school fruit scheme to begin in the Spring, ensuring children aged four to six receive a free piece of fruit each day at school.
In May, Informed Choice Project to be launched as part of the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme giving information and advice to men who wish to have a PSA test.
In August / September, new training schemes for staff will begin. Histopathology training pilots will start in August and endoscopy training programmes for nurses and GPs will begin in September.
In December, new waiting times targets will be in place ensuring: - maximum one month wait from urgent GP referral to treatment guaranteed for children's and testicular cancer and acute leukaemia. Maximum one-month wait from diagnosis to treatment for breast cancer. By December over 180 new pieces of equipment will have been delivered for the breast screening programme.
By December, 23 new MRI scanners, 28 new linear accelerators and 65 CT scanners will have been installed in the NHS. Milburn said: "There is no greater priority for the NHS than modernising cancer services. After decades of neglect cancer services are now getting the sustained investment and the fundamental reforms they have long needed. This year these life-saving services will get more investment than they have ever seen before.