CANCER CARE
A Better treatments and recession can lead to
better cancer care
s cancer becomes an increasingly survivable disease, NHS organisations
will need to change the way patients are cared for and take advantage of possible efficiency savings says a new report from the NHS Confederation and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Latest figures show £1.2 billion pounds is spent on inpatient cancer care per year and that, by 2030, there will be over four million people living with cancer in the UK.
The key to offering better care and making services more efficient is to coordinate care so patients are assessed quickly once a diagnosis is made and a comprehensive care plan is put in place for them and their families.
The role of clinical nurse specialists and allied health professionals are vital to delivering cancer care fit for the 21st century. Proper assessment and care plans will put the patient back in control and will reduce both costly emergency admissions and stress for patients.
The report shows how a new system of follow-up support needs to be introduced so patients can take more of an active role in managing an illness that, for many, is no longer a death sentence but a treatable long term condition.
Jo Webber, deputy director of policy at the NHS Confederation, which represents over 95 per cent of NHS organisations, said: “Being diagnosed with cancer is an extremely stressful and difficult time or patients.
With early detection and the improvements that have been made in the treatment of this disease, more people are surviving.
“This briefing sets out how, using specialist nurses or allied health professionals to assess and talk through a diagnosis of cancer early with patients, a comprehensive care plan can be drawn up so that potentially unnecessary emergency admissions and extra stress for patients can be avoided.
“The evidence shows that providing practical targeted support at the right time is not only better for patients but leads to more efficiency and better value services.”
Stephen Williams, cancer reform implementation manager at Macmillan Cancer Support,
R New drugs to relieve cancer pain
esearchers at the University of Leicester and the University of Ferrara
in Italy have collaborated to develop new drugs which have the potential to relieve cancer pain without causing many of the side effects of current pain treatments like morphine.
Figures show that 90% of cancer patients experience pain in the final year of their lives and this is a big problem. Currently, the use of drugs like morphine produces side effects such as depressed breathing, drowsiness, constipation and tolerance. Unfortunately tolerance usually results in an increased dose of morphine, which in turn means that patients experience more of these side effects.
26 nhe
Professors David Lambert and David Rowbotham at the University of Leicester, as well as Doctors Guerrini, Calo and Professor Salvadori from the University of Ferrara in Italy, are leading the early experiments of a new group of drugs which may not produce these side effects.
The research done at the University of Leicester has been funded by the Leicestershire and Rutland charity Hope Against Cancer.
“This work is still at a very early stage but has the potential to change the way we think about making drugs for pain related issues,” said Professor Lambert.
The new group of drugs, which were developed at the
said: “Now the NHS is having to make significant cuts to budgets, the temptation may be for NHS organisations to reduce supportive services in order to save money such as information centres or clinical nurse specialists.
“This report demonstrates that this would not only be bad for patients but will actually cost more to the NHS in the long run by moving the costs elsewhere in the system.
“In order for the NHS to cope with the increasing demand from people affected by cancer within a smaller overall envelope of money, it will need to see patients as individuals with psychological and emotional needs and design services that support better self-management. This will save money and give patients what they need.”
University of Ferrara and tested by the University of Leicester, is designed to produce pain relief by acting at two targets simultaneously.
The two target idea may provide effective pain relief with less tolerance.
Hope Against Cancer funded this 3-year PhD project at the University of Leicester to look at the long term effects of these new drugs, with a primary focus on drug tolerance.
Nikolaos Dietis, the PhD research student who is currently working on the project, said:
“Tolerance to strong painkillers like morphine involves
complicated biological processes, aspects of which still remain questionable. Our research may provide some answers by designing new drugs that have multiple roles.
“We are now studying these drugs to see what they do in the long-term.”
“Pain is a very complicated condition, whose control and relief could be achieved with the use of drugs that act on two different targets in order to obtain pain relief more effectively,” said Dr Guerrini.
The project at the University of Leicester could lead to further development of these new drugs that could even lead to future trials on cancer patients.
Jul/Aug 10
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