Waiting time for cancer treatment in Wales is about to change drastically

It may be a cliché, but everyone knows someone with cancer.

It is the leading cause of premature death in Wales and Secretary of State for Health, Vaughan Gething, admits that the NHS Welsh has not sufficiently achieved its goals.

In response to this, the way the Welsh NHS measures its cancer treatment times is about to change.

Mr. Gething announced today the creation of a new "single pathway of presumptive cancer" aimed at improving the quality and outcomes for cancer patients in Wales.

The new system will start from the moment a patient is suspected of having cancer, rather than when the cancer is confirmed, as is currently the case for some cancer patients.

It is expected that treatment will begin no later than 62 days after suspicion.

As part of this new path, the Welsh Government will invest £ 3 million in the next financial year.

"We must take urgent measures to have the technology necessary for this new approach"

The Macmillan Cancer Charity Association welcomed this decision, but said it was concerned that the computer had been put in place to facilitate it.

Richard Pugh, Head of Services (Wales) of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Macmillan welcomes this announcement as this new system will monitor the wait for cancer treatment as soon as a general practitioner thinks that his patient has cancer rather than when the hospital receives care. Reference of the doctor.

"Currently, the way in which cancer wait times are recorded in Wales does not always highlight the difficult delays faced by patients. We hope that this new approach will be more transparent and show the causes of delays when they occur so that action can be taken.

"This approach, however, relies on the implementation of adequate IT systems and, in light of the recent report of the Public Accounts Committee on NHS NHS IT issues, we need to take urgent action to ensure the technology needed for this new approach. "

The new route will not replace the current suspected cancer / non-urgent cancer suspect routes at this stage. However, boards of health will have to submit a double performance report for the three streams starting in June 2019.

Speeding up the process of diagnosing patients – including all the exams they need in a one-stop shop – has been the focus of a pilot project in two hospitals over the past year.

At Royal Glamorgan, 259 patients with vague symptoms of cancer were referred by their GP and benefited from the full range of tests at the same time. In total, 10% had cancer.

At Neath Port Talbot Hospital, 45 out of 385 patients had cancer. About half have not been diagnosed, but nothing is sinister and 40% have a significant problem, but no cancer.

In November of last year, the health secretary announced that local health councils would parallelly report the new single pathway of cancer, along with other pathways.

Mr. Gething said, "Cancer has become the leading cause of premature death in Wales and the United Kingdom.

"It is very likely that cancer affects everyone's life at any given time; some will develop the disease themselves, others will watch a friend or loved one fight it – sometimes more than once.

"The NHS in Wales systematically treats more cancer patients than ever before. We see and treat more patients than ever before. In the last 12 months. 17,033 patients started definitive treatment for cancer, 8.6% (1,347) five years ago. And 15,730 patients started treatment on time, 8.1% (1,180) more than five years earlier.

"However, we can not forget that we have not sufficiently achieved the objectives, but we must also recognize that about 92% of people with cancer are treated within the prescribed timeframe in both streams.

"We want to ensure that anyone with cancer in Wales has access to timely and appropriate treatment that will produce the best possible results.

"The proposals for the single pathway for cancer have been clinically driven and have broad support in the clinical community. Thanks to the double notification of the single pathway of cancer, Wales will be the first UK country to adopt a measure of the unique wait time for cancer. This reflects our aspiration to support early diagnosis of cancer and ensure prompt and effective treatment for all patients.

"The new way of measuring wait times for cancer treatment will improve the quality and outcomes for our cancer patients and I am confident that it is the right approach for Wales."

Andy Glyde, head of public affairs at Cancer Research UK in Wales, added: "Wait times for cancer are a barometer of NHS performance. This new system is welcome because it will give us a clearer picture of what is happening for cancer diagnosis patients.

"The Welsh government's commitment to detect cancer earlier is important. Patients diagnosed at the very beginning of the cancer are more likely to succeed in their treatment. For the new single pathway of cancer to reach its full potential, it must be used to explain how we can improve cancer diagnosis in Wales, including making sure we have the right workforce. "