Over 120 representatives from the many organisations involved in the provision of cancer services and care in the East of England came together in June in Cambridge to discuss how they can work better together to improve cancer services in the region.
The occasion was the official launch of the East of England Cancer Alliance, which is tasked with working with providers of cancer services and care to drive innovation and improvement at scale and pace in these services
Speakers at the event included Steve Brine MP, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Public Health & Primary Care, David Fitzgerald, Programme Director for the NHS Cancer Programme, and Dr Rory Harvey, consultant physician at NHS Bedford Hospital Trust and Chair of the East of England Cancer Alliance.
The theme of the day was ‘sharing the vision for cancer in the East of England’, looking at four specific areas:
- Improving one year survival with more patients living longer;
- Stage at diagnosis so that more patients are diagnosed and treated at an earlier stage;
- Improving patient experience throughout the cancer patient pathway;
- Addressing the 62 day cancer waiting times reduce how long patients wait for a diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
Discussions were held throughout the day on these issues, and were addressed using four key questions:
How ready are we to implement?
- What do we need to do?
- How do we manage the journey?
- How do we keep moving forward?
At the end of the day, organisations from the six sustainability and transformation partnerships in the Cancer Alliance set out their next steps for improving cancer services and care.
Over the coming weeks and months, the East of England Cancer Alliance will work with its partners to take forward these plans.
Gallery:
https://www.canceralliance.co.uk/gallery/5/Sharing-the-Vision-for-Cancer-in-the-East-of-England
