Transforming Cancer Care is not just about expanding our services and building a new hospital in Liverpool. It is also about looking at how we deliver our services to ensure we deliver the best treatment to our patients, as close to their home as possible.
Cancer survival rates have doubled over the last 40 years and around half of patients now survive the disease for more than 10 years. This means we are now supporting many more patients to live well with and beyond cancer which puts more pressure on our services.
The rate of cancer and its diagnosis is also rising, which means every year our services have to respond to growing demand. More and more new therapies to treat cancer (e.g. immunotherapy) are becoming available, which means the number of treatments we can offer is also increasing. In addition, these new treatment options also mean that our patients will require even more joined up care.
In response to this demand The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre will open a new hospital (in Liverpool city centre) in 2020 - Clatterbridge Cancer Centre-Liverpool. However we also need to think differently about how we deliver care.
Our vision for our services
We want to reduce waiting times for our patients...
Distributing our doctors according to where demand is higher will reduce waiting times and ensure our patients attend their first appointment within seven days of referral and receive treatment within 24 days of their first appointment.
We want improved access to the same range of services no matter where you live…
Bringing our range of specialist services together at several key locations across the region will give all patients equal access to treatment planning, support services and increased opportunities to enter clinical trials, offered on one site during their first appointment.
We want patients to have services that are locally accessible…
We will continue to deliver chemotherapy and immunotherapy in local hospitals across the region and expand our use of digital technology and treatment at home to deliver more care locally and reduce travel times for the majority of our patients.
We want to improve services for our unwell patients...
Our telephone triage service will offer referral to ambulatory services at our specialist hubs for unwell patients rather than send them to A&E as can often happen now.
They will be seen by a clinical team they are familiar with, have a timely assessment and be either looked after at home, be discharged without being admitted, or have a better planned admission in to our specialist cancer hospital in Liverpool.
We want to develop services that are fit for purpose for the future...
We will increase staffing by more than 20% across the Trust to create new specialist teams of staff who can work closely together to ensure we consistently deliver high quality care and access to research no matter where you live or access services.
