Future cancer care delivery will be by pharmacists
Specialist community-based cancer prevention services will be in place within the next decade, according to Professor Karol Sikora, visiting professor of cancer medicine, Imperial College, London.
Speaking at the BPC symposium on innovation and delivery in cancer care
on 15 September, Professor Sikora said: “My prediction is that
the medical model will be given up. A direct-to-consumer model for cancer
prevention done through pharmacy and clinical pharmacists may be a better
way forward.” He suggested that these specialist services would
be provided in the community rather than being set up in hospitals and
clinics. “The time isn’t right yet but it will come over
the next five to 10 years.”
The biggest change in prevention strategies would be the identification
of individual cancer risk. “Within five years there will be good
genetic testing — not just of high-risk cancer. Multiple gene analysis
will tell us who is likely to get cancer.”
Furthermore, advances in technology would mean that up to 70 per cent
of patients with cancer would be cured. “The future is not going
to be about the technology. It’s going to be about how society
provides the care, how it pays for it and what model it uses.” |
