Managing the consequences of cancer treatment and the English National Cancer Survivorship Initiative

In 2007 the English National Cancer Survivorship initiative was launched as a partnership between a national charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, the English Department of Health (DH) and the quality improvement agency NHS Improvement. The initiative involved a number of work streams, one of which was to improve the detection and management of the Consequences of adult cancer Treatment (COT).

The adult COT group took evidence from a range of stakeholders and published a vision and work programme focused on awareness raising, linking self- administered questionnaires to routine activity data collection and testing new models of care with a particular focus on pelvic cancers.

Key outputs include national media campaigns, publications demonstrating the value of linking cancer treatment episodes to routine recording of chronic illness, identification of sensitive Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) items for use in national surveys, evidence reviews and published national guidelines, together with the development of a three level risk stratified model of care. Pilot testing with survivors treated for pelvic cancers, and adult survivors with radiation-induced brachial plexopathy has been completed.

Early results suggest that a systematic approach to the prevention, detection and management of some treatment-related consequences can significantly improve the ability of patients to manage their conditions. As a result of these findings, new services have now been commissioned by the NHS, initially for those with complex problems.