Genesis has recipe for cancer care
Independent provider GenesisCare has released a paper setting out its position on the future of cancer care across the UK.
It aims to address the challenges the Government faces in cancer care and provides ‘viable solutions’ to reset and transform this.
Responding to the Government’s call for evidence on its ten-year cancer care plan, the report outlines these areas for greater focus:
Insufficient capacity to meet rising demand: The number of patients requiring treatment is more than the current system can handle. Clinicians’ time is stretched, waiting lists are growing, and care among regions is variable, meaning inequitable outcomes for patients.
Lack of agility across the current system – including approval and implementation of techniques and treatments: The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted how quickly processes can adapt, regulatory bodies can act and guidelines can be updated in periods of crisis. This now needs to be implemented in areas which need it most, primarily oncology.
Achievable solutions
GenesisCare, a global oncology specialist working with over 5,000 cancer experts, says it is dedicated to early investment in world-leading technology and treatments.
Its paper outlines achievable solutions it believes could be adopted without major financial outlay, including:
Utilising all available assets in the most effective way possible in the immediate term. It says the move to Integrated Care Systems offers an opportunity to take a regional and sector-agnostic approach to utilising assets, ensuring the NHS can help to reduce the patient backlog and reduce pressure on staff capacity and resource by using all available infrastructure at maximum capacity.
Prioritising investment and delivery of innovative diagnostic techniques that deliver the best possible treatment options and technology that reduces the burden of after-care.
This includes personalised, precision medicine through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and cell free DNA (cfDNA) and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) on modern equipment, such as MR LINACs, can significantly reduce the burden on after-care and support services.
Integrating data sharing and international evidence to deliver a more integrated approach for cancer patients that allows comprehensive records to be shared across general practice, community provision, local hospitals, the independent sector and regional tertiary care.
New regulatory systems to ensure new treatments can be quickly appraised and approved in a routine way, including greater acceptance of clinical evidence gathered outside the UK.
Dr Eliot Sims, the company’s clinical oncologist and chief medical officer, said: ‘It’s clear that, with the current landscape, we need to fundamentally change the way we approach the care crisis in order to deliver the best quality of care possible for all patients – achieving the Government’s goals of making our cancer care systems the “best in Europe”.’
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