New cancer waiting times piloted
8 May 2014 02:53 PM
A pilot project to test new ways of measuring
cancer waiting times in Wales are underway, the Welsh Government announced
yesterday
A
single cancer pathway will be piloted, measured and compared against the
existing system. Currently, patients are placed on one of two pathways
– a 62-day ‘urgent’ pathway or 31-day
‘non-urgent’ pathway, according to when their cancer was first
diagnosed.
The
new measures, which have been developed by cancer clinicians, will be tested in
six health board areas in Wales and will help the NHS to gain a more accurate
picture of actual waiting times and speed up treatment in many
cases.
Dr
Tom Crosby, clinical director of the South Wales Cancer Network,
said:
“The clinical view is that monitoring waiting
times is important to ensure patients are treated in a timely manner, but they
are blunt instruments and do not measure the clinical experience of the vast
majority of patients.
“The current cancer targets assume all diagnostic
and treatment pathways should be the same duration, when that isn’t
always the case. Sixty-two days should be the maximum time any patient should
wait, but the vast majority of patients should be treated far more quickly than
this.
“For example, a patient referred with a suspicious
breast lump, where diagnosis is simpler and there are fewer tests involved,
should have surgery far more quickly than a patient with a less aggressive but
more complex cancer where more detailed diagnostic tests are needed and will
lead to more effective surgery.
“In addition, the focus on the current 31-day and
62-day targets has encouraged a focus on the few patients who breech the target
rather than improving the whole patient pathway for all patients. This new
approach will also benefit patients beyond their first definitive
treatment.”
Health Minister Mark Drakeford said:
“We know from the current targets that the
majority of people are already treated well within 31 or 62 days according to
which pathway they are on and that there are only a very small number of people
who are not seen within these times.
“But developing a single pathway will help us to
be even more ambitious in terms of faster diagnosis and treatment as it will
enable us to measure the actual time people wait and make sure patients are
prioritised accordingly.
“It also means the NHS will no longer be focusing
so much on the non-urgent suspected cancer pathway. This term makes the whole
process sound less of a priority – if you’re a patient with cancer
then you want to know you’re going to get the best care as soon as
possible.
“We want to gain a more accurate picture of the
experiences of all cancer patients to allow us to improve the way their care is
delivered and to speed up treatment times wherever possible.
“A number of clinicians have called on us to trial
a single suspected cancer pathway and we will use the results to help us to
continue to improve the care people receive.”
The
pilot started on May 1st and will run until September 30th. Performance against
the current 31-day and 62-day targets will continue to be measured and reported
as normal.