NHS England Board meeting 8 February 2018, paper 7
Extracts:
- 11-18. An update of NHS performance and progress around Cancer including 2WW, 62 day standard, radiotherapy modernisations, early diagnosis, Faster Diagnosis Standard, personalised follow up after cancer treatment, new multidisciplinary rapid diagnostic and assessment centres.
- 37. "within Specialised Commissioning, latest forecasts show an expectation of £394m of efficiencies, an increase of £68m (21%) on the 2016/17 delivery of £326m. "
11. In November 2017, 95.1% of patients with a suspected cancer were seen by a specialist within two weeks of an urgent GP referral, against a standard of 93%, with 4.6% more patients being seen in the 12 months to November 2017 than in the previous 12 months. In addition, there has been a 4.8% increase in patients receiving a first treatment for cancer following an urgent referral.
12. Trusts continue to focus specifically on recovery of the cancer 62 day from referral to treatment standard. November 2017 performance was 82.3% against a standard of 85%. There was an increase of 4.3% of patients who received first treatments for cancer following an urgent GP referral in the 12 months to November 2017. Trusts have undertaken extra actions to ensure management of patients on the 62 day pathway is completed robustly and thoroughly, resulting in over 2,000 fewer patients waiting to start treatment than in April 2017.
13. Over £17m has now been invested through the regional teams to drive recovery of the 62 day standard. Additional investment is now also being targeted to improve the lung and prostate pathways in particular, which account for a high proportion of breaches. This investment is being directed to the most challenged Cancer Alliances.
14. In October 2016, NHS England announced a £130m investment in modernising radiotherapy over two years to fight cancer and cure more patients and in early 2017, the first 23 hospitals received new or upgraded equipment. In Next Steps, we committed to rolling out a further 50 new radiotherapy machines in at least 34 hospitals over the 18 months to October 2018. We continue to improve access to modern radiotherapy treatments across the country, with funding allocated for 26 replacement machines in 21 trusts. The development of 11 Radiotherapy Networks across the country is now out to consultation.
15. Transformation funding for improving early diagnosis has been agreed and implementation commenced for over half of the Cancer Alliances and Vanguard Partnerships. For early diagnosis, we are funding four types of intervention designed to support earlier and faster diagnosis which are grouped as follows: early access, pathway redesign, secondary care networking and rapid diagnostic models. The aim of this is to achieve progress towards 2020 ambition of 62% diagnoses at stages 1 and 2, reduction in diagnoses via emergency presentations, meeting the 62 day standard, improvements in patient satisfaction in time to diagnosis, and improvements in experience of communication of diagnosis.
16. Additionally, half of the Cancer Alliance and Vanguard Partnerships have had funding confirmed to support the roll out of personalised follow up after cancer treatment, which will result in patients receiving the type of follow-up care that is most suited to their needs. For personalised follow up, we are funding the implementation of the recovery package, and the implementation of stratified follow-up pathways for people with breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, which will improve patient experience and quality of care.
17. Next Steps commits to the introduction of ten new multidisciplinary rapid diagnostic and assessment centres across England by March 2018. Through the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Wave 2 programme (a partnership between NHS England, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support), nine centres have been set up and have begun to take patients with complex symptoms through to diagnosis. The final ACE wave 2 site is due to be operational this month, taking the total to ten. Specifically for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers.
18. Progress continues to be made on supporting faster diagnoses of cancer for patients. The new system to implement the 28 day Faster Diagnosis Standard will go live from April 2018, with data collection commencing from July 2018.
13. Over £17m has now been invested through the regional teams to drive recovery of the 62 day standard. Additional investment is now also being targeted to improve the lung and prostate pathways in particular, which account for a high proportion of breaches. This investment is being directed to the most challenged Cancer Alliances.
14. In October 2016, NHS England announced a £130m investment in modernising radiotherapy over two years to fight cancer and cure more patients and in early 2017, the first 23 hospitals received new or upgraded equipment. In Next Steps, we committed to rolling out a further 50 new radiotherapy machines in at least 34 hospitals over the 18 months to October 2018. We continue to improve access to modern radiotherapy treatments across the country, with funding allocated for 26 replacement machines in 21 trusts. The development of 11 Radiotherapy Networks across the country is now out to consultation.
15. Transformation funding for improving early diagnosis has been agreed and implementation commenced for over half of the Cancer Alliances and Vanguard Partnerships. For early diagnosis, we are funding four types of intervention designed to support earlier and faster diagnosis which are grouped as follows: early access, pathway redesign, secondary care networking and rapid diagnostic models. The aim of this is to achieve progress towards 2020 ambition of 62% diagnoses at stages 1 and 2, reduction in diagnoses via emergency presentations, meeting the 62 day standard, improvements in patient satisfaction in time to diagnosis, and improvements in experience of communication of diagnosis.
16. Additionally, half of the Cancer Alliance and Vanguard Partnerships have had funding confirmed to support the roll out of personalised follow up after cancer treatment, which will result in patients receiving the type of follow-up care that is most suited to their needs. For personalised follow up, we are funding the implementation of the recovery package, and the implementation of stratified follow-up pathways for people with breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, which will improve patient experience and quality of care.
17. Next Steps commits to the introduction of ten new multidisciplinary rapid diagnostic and assessment centres across England by March 2018. Through the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Wave 2 programme (a partnership between NHS England, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support), nine centres have been set up and have begun to take patients with complex symptoms through to diagnosis. The final ACE wave 2 site is due to be operational this month, taking the total to ten. Specifically for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers.
18. Progress continues to be made on supporting faster diagnoses of cancer for patients. The new system to implement the 28 day Faster Diagnosis Standard will go live from April 2018, with data collection commencing from July 2018.
