Effective Cancer Management: framework

1. Corporate Responsibility

All NHS Health Boards have a duty and responsibility to ensure efficient and effective systems are in place to manage patients who are referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer (USC), or diagnosed with cancer through alternative routes, in a timely manner.

1.1 Board Chief Executives (BCE) and Executive Teams should have clear and consistent messaging to all staff, that cancer is a priority.

1.2 The patient should be at the heart of all care.

1.3 Each board should have a designated Cancer Manager and director-level Clinical Lead, from which strong leadership is delivered.

1.4 Comprehensive awareness and understanding of the 62- and 31-day cancer standards for all staff involved in the pathway, from cancer trackers and MDT Coordinators to Registrars and Consultants.

1.5 Attendance from a director-level Board representative (or named deputy) is mandatory at the Cancer Performance Delivery Board (CPDB). Operational cancer managers should also be encouraged to attend.

1.6 Cancer tracking escalations should be measured, heard and acted on. The number of escalations should be used as a quality and performance indicator.

1.7 Breach analysis learning should be promoted at all levels with appropriate actions taken to mitigate future breaches in performance. Completed actions from the breach analysis should be used as an indicator of quality and performance.

1.8 A local cancer management group should be in place within each NHS territorial Board. Membership should include all appropriate staff from both primary and secondary care.

1.9 Agreed timelines to clear any backlogs, and trajectories to meet cancer waiting times standards should be in place in every NHS Board. This will encourage teams to collectively deliver a clear, shared goal.

1.10 Boards will subscribe and actively work together to deliver regional and national backlog clearance plans.

1.11 Boards will continue to engage with Value Based Healthcare work streams to ensure principles are embedded across cancer pathways. (Scot Gov 2022)

1.12 Effective communication and feedback mechanisms should be in place to ensure all relevant team members, and the patient, are aware of and central to processes, timelines and next steps.