Site last updated:
December 2011
Cancer Services Forum currently has 1452 registered members
Articles
The Editorial Advisory Board invites the submission of articles and opinion pieces on any topic regarding the commissioning and provision of cancer services in the UK.
Recent articles include
BOPA response to the government’s £50 million Interim Cancer Drug Fund - Part One
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The Lancet described the Government’s announcement in July 2010 of an Interim Cancer Drugs Fund as: ‘The product of political opportunism and intellectual incoherence’, which undermines the evidence-based approach to the allocation of NHS resources operated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
This is pretty much what it feels like to try to implement this fund using the suggested framework: i.e. clinician-led, with funding allocated according to policies or individual cases as appropriate, and requiring strategic health authorities working together with cancer networks and PCTs to implement the fund fairly, equitably and legally. Not least of the difficulties is the timeframe in which we have to manage this. With the framework for application now in place (since 1 October 2010), we await the reactions from patients and the media alike.
Payment by Results for chemotherapy—challenges and solutions
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Establishing and effectively maintaining a tariff for chemotherapy, within our current financial restrictions, is going to be key in managing costs and ensuring prescription appropriateness in of one of the most costly areas of medicine.
In this month’s issue of Cancer Services Forum, Anne Hines modestly describes her tour through the highly complex and challenging process of defining this tariff as ‘merely a cursory look’. In essence, Anne provides an excellent overview of a long and drawn out project that many of us have only a partial understanding of. A process that has been beset with difficulties, including poor Trust data collection, inter and intra Trust prescribing variability and within a specialty that is constantly changing in response to research advances.
New technologies for cervical cancer screening
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The insight in recent years into the causative link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer has opened the door to a national vaccination programme, which is now underway in the target age groups. The link may also have implications for the way that the NHS cervical screening programme is organised, as this month’s edition of Cancer Services Forum explains.
In his informative article, Jack Cuzick presents evidence for the validity of HPV testing as an adjunct to conventional cervical cytology. Of particular interest to those involved in the commissioning and organisation of cancer services, he proposes an algorithm for cervical screening, in which cytology is reserved for women who are HPV-positive, thereby reducing the demand on cytology services. Professor Cuzick also sheds light on the emerging technology of immunostaining, which may eventually have a role in cervical screening.
2010 General Election: promises, promises…
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As the country gears itself up for a General Election in May, what are the implications for health, and in particular cancer?
The public media has already started using health issues, and cancer in particular, to tease out debate, and though the three main parties have openly named health as a key election priority, only two have specific plans for cancer. One thing is for sure, we will have heard much during their campaign as the footballs of health and cancer are kicked around the political playing field.
London Cancer New Drugs Group position statement on patient access schemes: expert responses
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The London Cancer New Drugs Group (LCNDG) has issued a position statement saying it will not take patient access schemes (PASs) into account when evaluating new treatments. Citing the complexity of PASs and a general lack of capacity to manage these schemes, the LCNDG says it does not currently support PASs as a method of cost reduction. In summary, the LCNDG states that it will “continue to evaluate and make recommendations with respect to new treatments at full cost and will not take into consideration the potential financial impact of a proposed or existing PAS related to the treatment.” This stance is at odds with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which has developed these schemes in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry to facilitate access to more expensive treatments within the NHS, and has even set up the Patient Access Scheme Liaison Unit (PASLU) to help implement PASs.
Although NICE has yet to comment, experts have been quick to respond to the LCNDG’s position statement. You can read the reactions of David Thomson, British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) Chair, Steve Williamson, Professional Secretary, North of England Cancer Drugs Approval Group (NECDAG), and Sean McGrath, Managing Director, Succinct Healthcare Communications, in this issue of Cancer Services Forum.
BOPA & UKONS Conference 2009
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The first ever joint BOPA (British Oncology Pharmacy Association) annual symposium and UKONS (UK Oncology Nursing Society) annual conference took place this month in Brighton.
A total of 675 delegates attended over the 4 days, and the busy exhibition hall, which held 53 stands, contributed a vibrant feel to proceedings. But with more than 50 talks, meetings and workshops, not to mention numerous posters, the emphasis was firmly on work. Read on for a comprehensive report.
