Our cancer team was engaged by Peninsula Cancer Alliance to provide a review of their local cancer services to ensure sustainability and equity across the region.
Objective
Nationally, cancer services are under pressure to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan to improve outcomes, tackle inequalities and address unmet needs. The added impact of an ageing population, a reduction in workforce, and demand and capacity gaps in diagnostic service provision are presenting significant challenges to systems on how best to influence change to service delivery. In response to these challenges, Peninsula Cancer Alliance commissioned SCW to provide a discovery review of their local services. They required a clearer understanding of how and where care was delivered, what was working well across their region and to identify opportunities for strengthening their local health care systems.
What we did
Peninsula Cancer Alliance recognised geographical rurality along with lack of ease and access to good transport links were inhibiting factors in addressing demand and capacity gaps and equitable services. They needed to understand if redistribution of services would positively impact the local community and workforce.
Our review considered combining resources and services factoring in service delivery, accessibility, efficiency, equitability, sustainability, and quality of care.
To provide the most impactful outcome, we shared the results at a Peninsula-wide Cancer Strategy Summit, and offered a framework for trust executives, commissioners, and senior leaders across the region, to collaborate and review service equitability.
Incorporating our cancer expertise with our business intelligence and geospatial teams, we built a picture of the local landscape and cancer service delivery by Primary Care Networks and Trusts. This highlighted areas of deprivation, service gaps and projections in cancer incidence. Combining this knowledge with local workforce modelling, we demonstrated the gaps predicted to impact service delivery within the next 15 years.
Our clinical expertise facilitated strong stakeholder engagement, which enabled us to:
- Provide an informative thematic analysis, consistent with System priorities
- Understand the wider challenges and identify priority workstreams
- Explore enablers to support those challenges
- Produce prioritised recommendations for further exploration
- Provide comprehensive data packs for all summit attendees
- Provide an online geospatial web application for key stakeholders allowing exploration of the data in detail and creation of their own maps with layers of their choice.
Regular customer touchpoint meetings enabled us to identify, adapt, and sense-check the approach for the strategy summit. Utilising the bespoke geospatial interactive mapping resources, along with combined qualitative and quantitative data, we were able to co-create and suggest data-driven solutions to inform new ideas and ways of working.
Activity
Cancer and long-term conditions
Working with Cancer Alliances to deliver sustainable and equitable services
Geospatial services
Created mapping and visual output to give context to Peninsula Cancer Alliance
Data-driven decision-making
Built innovative online solutions to be used by key stakeholders to enable engagement and decision-making
Outcome
With our clinical expertise, we successfully facilitated the summit event demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges and promoting rich discussion.
Our service modelling identified services that needed improvement and the immediate risks. These included an adaptable multiskilled workforce, potential relocation of services, and the widening gap between workforce and service demand.
Presenting these findings provided a structure for systems to engage, discuss and generate new ideas. Systems were keen for a Pan-Peninsula model approach to diagnostics to be either centralised or dispersed, along with associated planning and procurement.
As workforce was identified as being paramount to support services, systems wanted a workforce tailored to needs. This included non-registered personnel, who could work flexibly across sites and remotely; with a drive to improve recruitment and retention.
Following the summit, an analysis of the feedback identified three specific workstreams aimed at addressing variation in performance across systems and ensuring equitable services.
It was agreed to:
- Review of the whole colorectal pathway – as a pilot to determine if a Pan-Peninsula model would work for each cancer site.
- Review governance for the Alliance and other partners to support all workstreams
- Revise the front end of cancer pathway delivery including workforce modelling and diagnostics.
Work within these areas has commenced with continued input from SCW enabling a streamlined approach. Systems are keen to work collaboratively to address system pressures, with the goal of delivering cancer care equitability.
