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December 2011
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Commissioning cancer care: report from the 2011 London Cancer New Drugs Group annual conference
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Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the December 2011 issue of Cancer Services Forum.
The relevance of the London Cancer New Drugs Group (LCNDG) annual conference is validated by the high demand for places to attend the 2011 annual conference, the fifth such meeting. Registration was closed in August, confirming the popularity among clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, commissioners and other healthcare professionals. Although driven by the aims to facilitate consistency of approach in London by informing the managed entry of new drugs in cancer treatment and to promote the cost-effective and equitable provision of all medicines used in cancer, the topics discussed have relevance across the UK.
Variation in different contexts was a striking theme throughout the meeting, across patient outcomes, practice and prescribing, and what the public think about the NHS—which raises questions about the reasons behind the differences and what more can be done to address them. Ongoing concern about funding was another strong theme, which has the potential to be overwhelming as we move to a new commissioning and quality agenda in the NHS while introducing the NHS reform strategy. Thus the demand to improve the delivery of cancer care to provide better patient outcomes, and improve patient access to effective treatments is challenged by demand which is increasing by up to 20% and funding set to increase by less than 1% per year over the next 5 years alongside a 30% reduction in the number of acute beds. All against the backdrop of the need to find £20 billion of efficiency savings in the NHS.
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. If you would like to have your say on any of the items discussed, please email me at csf@succinctcomms.com or post your comment online at www.canserforum.com
On behalf of the team at Cancer Services Forum may I wish you a relaxing festive break, and a happy new year.
The Editor
Cancer Services Forum
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