CCGs will face greater scrutiny on their one-year survival rates for cancer from next April, NHS England chief Simon Stevens announced today.
Speaking at the Britain Against Cancer conference held in London, Mr Stevens said NHS England will include one-year cancer survival rate indicators in the ‘delivery dashboard’ of the 2015/16 CCG Assurance Framework, which is how CCGs’ performance is measured by NHS England.
The CCG Assurance Framework includes key measurements on which CCG performance is monitored by NHS England area teams and includes indicators on cancer waiting time targets, but does not currently include any on cancer survival.
An NHS England spokesperson confirmed to Pulse that ‘Simon Stevens announced today that the one-year cancer survival rates by CCG will be added to the NHS England delivery dashboard from April’.
The announcement coincided with the launch of the DH’s fourth annual Cancer Strategy report, which outlined that under-75 mortality rates fell 15% in England between 2009 and 2013.
It also highlighted that almost 35,000 more patients were treated for cancer last year than in 2009/10, an increase of 15%, while GP urgent cancer referrals went up 51% over the same period – although it admits ‘strains on performance’ against the 62-day treatment target.
The DH report also hailed the increased number of diagnoses from some of its Be Clear on Cancer awareness campaigns, with, for example, 700 extra patients diagnosed with lung cancer, as well as the development and use of the Macmillan Cancer Support Clinical Decision Tool by some GPs.
The tool is shortly to be rolled out to around half of all practices in England using EMIS.
A spokesperson for Macmillan Cancer Research told Pulse: ‘At the moment we are revisiting our evaluation of our pilot and updating any recommendations however hope to roll it out in the new year.’
