The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7374 p566
5 November 2005

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NHS needs to tackle lack of capacity to deliver cancer services

Action is needed to tackle the lack of capacity within the NHS to deliver cancer services, according to a report published by Cancer Capacity Coalition (a group of oncology clinicians and charities) this week.

The report, entitled “Optimising service capacity to meet demand for cancer drug treatment delivery” and supported through an educational grant from Roche, sets out why demand for drug treatment of cancer has increased radically over the past 10 years, and will continue to do so, and proposes practical solutions to maximise capacity in cancer centres throughout the UK.

Commenting on the report, Jim Cassidy, head of the Cancer Research UK department of medical oncology, University of Glasgow, and chairman of the Cancer Capacity Coalition working party, said: “Even if the Government fast tracks certain treatments then we may be in a position where we can’t offer them to patients because we do not have the capacity to deliver them.”

The report recommends that intravenous therapy should be switched to oral chemotherapy wherever possible. However, it highlights that the Payment by Results system may present “perverse incentives” for hospitals not to implement capacity saving measures such as these and recommends that these incentives should be identified and addressed through primary care trust monitoring of local contracts with providers.

Another recommendation is that services should be reconfigured and scheduled to ensure that resources, including staff, are used in the most effective way. Examples of good practice cited in the report include a pharmacy/nurse-led oral chemotherapy clinic at Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow, and shift working in the pharmacy at Southend Hospital to allow treatment to start earlier.