There are currently 1.8 million people in England living with and beyond cancer, and 2 million across the UK as a whole. This number is likely to grow by over 3% per year, reflecting the increasing incidence of cancer and better survival rates. By 2030 there are likely to be around 3 million cancer survivors in England.
March 29th, 2013
On March 29th 2013 we published Living with and beyond cancer: Taking Action to Improve Outcomes which will inform the direction of survivorship work in England to 2015. This document will support commissioners, health service providers and others to take the actions necessary to drive improved survivorship outcomes.
Cancer Survivorship Initiative?The National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (NCSI) is a partnership between the Department of Health and Macmillan Cancer Support, supported by NHS Improvement, which originated from the Cancer Reform Strategy (2007).
Our aim is to ensure that those living with and beyond cancer get the care and support they need to lead as healthy and active a life as possible, for as long as possible.
On March 29th 2013 we published Living with and beyond cancer: Taking Action to Improve Outcomes which will inform the direction of survivorship work in England to 2015. This document is intended to support commissioners, providers and others to take the actions necessary to drive improved survivorship outcomes. It sets out what we have learnt about survivorship, including people’s needs, their experience of care, and the impact cancer and treatment has upon their lives. It describes interventions that have been tested, and are ready to spread across England to improve survivors’ outcomes.
There are a number of key interventions that could make an immediate difference, including the introduction of an integrated package of interventions, “The Recovery Package”, which includes
The combination of these interventions will enable better outcomes for cancer survivors, through creating a shared understanding between patient and professionals about the issues important to the patient, what they can expect during recovery, and identifying any needs to be addressed.
This report builds on the NCSI vision document, published in January 2010, summarised a range of evidence about the care and support available for cancer survivors, and suggested that traditional follow up arrangements – usually involving regular out-patient appointments in an acute hospital – are not meeting all the needs of survivors. The vision identified five key shifts necessary to transform cancer care and support from a one-size fits all approach to follow up to personalised care planning based on assessment of individual risks, needs and preferences.
If you have any enquiries please contact the Macmillan Survivorship team.
Plans for 2013
The NCSI has been engaging service users, clinicians and commissioners to develop new models of care and to provide evidence to demonstrate the opportunities to improve quality and efficiency of services. Much testing work was undertaken between 2010 – 2012, and the NCSI will continue to develop compelling evidence for the commissioning of new pathways. Developing further understanding of the impact of cancer and its treatment on survivors’ quality of life will be a priority, building on the evidence such as the recently published data analyses from the 2011 Survivorship PROMs survey pilot.
We will progress work to embed paper-based and electronic assessment and care planning tools, including the Electronic Holistic Needs Assessment (e-HNA). The electronic tool will allow the outcome of assessments to be easily shared with members of a multi disciplinary team (MDT), which will greatly improve joined-up care. Information from assessments can be filed, reviewed and shared more efficiently. The number of test sites will expand in 2013 and the e-HNA developed to include specialist tools, including one dedicated for older people.
NHS Improvement will publish a document encapsulating the learning from the adult cancer testing work, titled ‘Adult Survivorship: From Innovation to Implementation’, which will act as a “how to” guide to support implementation in practice. Publication is planned for the end of April 2013, to be available on the NHS Improvement website.
NCSI Programmes
The partners within the NCSI, with support from a range of other stakeholders, deliver programmes that aim to improve the ongoing services and support for those living with and beyond cancer.
The work of the NCSI was divided into the following project groups:
The work and achievements of these projects can be seen in further detail on the project pages.
If you are a cancer survivor or a carer seeking immediate support, please visit www.macmillan.org.uk.
Last updated on April 8, 2013
