Posted: 26 February 2021

Cancer service meeting key targets during pandemic

Throughout the pandemic, the Trust has worked hard to continue to provide vital cancer services and has continued to meet the national target to see urgent GP cancer referrals within two weeks.

Here in Buckinghamshire, the team took a number of steps in order to continue to provide key cancer services to the local population throughout the pandemic. This included conducting many first patient consultations over the telephone, maintaining diagnostic services and reporting, and relocating the haematology ward from Stoke Mandeville Hospital to BMI Shelburne during both waves of the pandemic.

The service was also able to continue urgent surgeries by working with teams in Wycombe Hospital, as well as private healthcare partners BMI Chiltern and Shelburne. Following a national contract negotiation, over 3,000 surgical procedures have been done in the private sector by NHS cancer teams.

Finally, over £150k funding was secured for a cancer dashboard which allows clinical teams to track and manage patients through a, often complex, series of clinics, investigations and treatments. This system has been developed during the pandemic and is now live.

Andrew McLaren, Consultant Surgeon and Deputy Medical Director at the Trust, said:  “Despite all the difficulties we are proud to have largely maintained cancer performance over the last few months, particularly to see urgent cancer referrals from GPs in two weeks. Feedback from patients has been that some of the changes we were forced to introduce due to the pandemic, such as initial telephone consultations, have been positive and have resulted in patients getting earlier reassurance that all is well, or being directed to the correct test more quickly. We will look to see how we can build on these positive developments for the future.”