Specialised Commissioning Alert: 62 day target

Showing posts with label 62 day target. Show all posts

1 October 2019

A review of the evidence around the association between cancer outcomes and time intervals to diagnosis and treatment was inconclusive due to heterogeneity across the evidence base. Well conducted systematic reviews were identified for head and neck cancers, colon cancer and prostate cancer

A tool to help you identify the main reasons for delays in referral to treatment and help operational teams to focus on interventions that will have the biggest impact on reducing waiting times.

Tools to address the three key elements that contribute to improved waiting times for patients and better performance against the 62-day standard - reduced number of pathway steps, reduced time to first appointment and reduced overall size of patient tracking list.

Segmented analysis of the colorectal cancer median pathway from referral to treatment: 2013-2015 (London)
Transforming Cancer Services Team for London , PHE National Cancer Registry and Analysis Service, 27 March 2018

This project assesses the typical pathway for those diagnosed with colorectal cancer in London in the aim to understand the pathway better as this is a pathway that is typically challenged in terms of meeting the 62 day cancer waits standard.
The pathway is presented by the median time taken between when a patient is referred to when they are first seen in secondary care, from when they are seen in secondary care to diagnosis, from diagnosis to the patient’s first MDT meeting, and from the MDT meeting to the treatment start date.
The pathway is further segmented by year of diagnosis (2013-2015), sex, stage at diagnosis, age at diagnosis, ethnicity, income domain quintile, resident CCG and STP, and diagnosis trust.

Improving colorectal cancer referrals
BMJ Open Qual 2018;7:e000280. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000280

This quality improvement project (The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) focused on sending fast-track colorectal GP referrals through a straight-to-colonoscopy telephone assessment clinic (TAC).
The results showed an improvement from GP referral to colonoscopy. Both PDSA cycle 1 and PDSA cycle 2 showed an average of 24 days, a reduction of 6 days. A temporary full-time TAC nurse appointment (PDSA cycle 3) showed a reduction of the average from referral to colonoscopy to 19 days and a reduction in the variation. The TAC role is now a permanent position.