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Showing results for tags 'Cancer'.
Found 546 results
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Content ArticleIn March, the charity Breast Cancer Now asked people with breast cancer to tell us how coronavirus had affected their treatment and care. 580 people responded. Many reported that they or their loved ones had experienced delays or cancellations to treatment and monitoring scans. Others had not experienced any changes to their treatment. To understand how people’s experiences may have changed and try to better quantify some of the impacts, Breast Cancer Now ran a second survey between 9 July and 6 August. 2,124 people with breast cancer responded. They also spoke to 12 healthcare professionals from different parts of the breast cancer pathway including radiographers, surgeons, oncologists specialising in drug treatment and radiotherapy, and clinical nurse specialists. This was supplemented by data available on the impact of the pandemic, for example on referrals to see a specialist. This report sets out their findings and recommendations for what needs to happen next to tackle the challenges identified. The content is split into four sections: Diagnosis Treatment Clinical trials and research Care and support.
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Content ArticleThe Health and Social Care Committee is calling for urgent action to assess and tackle a backlog of appointments and an unknown patient demand for all health services, specifically across cancer treatments, mental health services, dentistry services, GP services and elective surgery. MPs say a compelling case has been made for the nationwide routine testing of all NHS staff and they are yet to understand why it cannot be introduced.
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Content ArticleSeptember is Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month. Through September The Eve Appeal runs a national campaign, Go Red, and this year they are raising awareness of the key red flag symptom – abnormal bleeding. They have created this infographic highlighting the signs and symptoms.
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Content ArticleWhile improving over time, the outcomes for lung cancer patients were already dramatically below those with other cancers before the pandemic. This report from the World Economic Forum, is designed to help governments, health systems, healthcare professionals and others to come together to: understand the effect of the pandemic on lung cancer care address the immediate impact of the pandemic on lung cancer services ensure their resilience in the longer term so that we can go further than ever before to improve patients’ outcomes.
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Content ArticleSince January 2019, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has been the competent authority for regulating medical exposure to ionising radiation in Ireland and receives incident notifications of significant events arising from accidental or unintended medical exposures. As part of its role, HIQA is responsible for sharing lessons learned from significant events. HIQA has published an overview report on the lessons learned from notifications of significant incident events in Ireland arising from accidental or unintended medical exposures in 2019. This report provides an overview of the findings from these notifications and aims to share learnings from the investigations of these incidents.
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Content ArticleCancer and multiple non-cancer conditions are considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as high risk conditions in the COVID-19 emergency. Professional societies have recommended changes in cancer service provision to minimize COVID-19 risks to cancer patients and health care workers. However, we do not know the extent to which cancer patients, in whom multi-morbidity is common, may be at higher overall risk of mortality as a net result of multiple factors including COVID-19 infection, changes in health services, and socioeconomic factors. This paper from Lai et al. predicts estimate of excess deaths in cancer patients related to the COVID-19 emergency using data from England, Northern Ireland and US.
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Content ArticleWith a lot of medical care on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, Paul Landau, founder and CEO of digital cancer care company Careology, looks at the UK’s ‘next big crisis’.
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Content Article
Top 10 tips for communicating a diagnosis of mesothelioma
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Cancers
RADIO Meso (Receiving a diagnosis of mesothelioma) is a research project, funded by Mesothelioma UK and being carried out by researchers at the University of Sheffield. The project aims to identify ways to improve the patient and family carer experience of receiving a diagnosis of mesothelioma. The researchers carried out interviews with people with mesothelioma and their family members. Additional consultation was conducted with health professionals involved in communicating a mesothelioma diagnosis. People attending a group event at the Mesothelioma UK Patient and Carer Day also contributed their experiences and views regarding diagnosis communication. They were asked to recall their own experience and to tell the team ‘what went well?’ and ‘what could have been better?’. Following analysis the researchers identified key themes and developed ‘ten Top Tips’ for communicating a mesothelioma diagnosis. -
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Mesothelioma UK: My Mesothelioma Care Passport
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Cancers
The 'My Mesothelioma Care Passport' is a pack designed to help patients keep up-to-date with the planned care that they have discussed and agreed with healthcare professionals. -
Content ArticleMesothelioma UK's Head of Nursing, Lorraine, interviews Clinical Nurse Specialists Anne and Chris from the Meso UK nursing team about their experiences of nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Could telemedicine solve the cancer backlog?
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Telemedicine
Although millions of patients with cancer around the world face delays in diagnosis and treatment because of the diversion of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing expectation that telemedicine may play a central role in easing the backlog. This Lancet Digital Health article explores how telemedicine will be key as healthcare systems move forward in tackling the backlog in not only cancer treatment but also diagnosis, and how augmented intelligence (AI) could be used to help to optimise its use. -
Content ArticleCancer is the leading cause of death in the UK, and cancer doesn’t just stop because of a pandemic. Before COVID-19 there were around 367,000 new cases of cancer in the UK and, sadly, around 165,000 deaths. Early diagnosis followed by swift access to the most effective treatment remains as important as ever for survival. It is also essential to preserve cancer patients’ quality of life through a personalised, holistic approach to their care. Over 2 million people were estimated to be waiting for cancer screening, testing and treatment. In addition to this, many cancer patients may have been asked to shield, causing immediate disruption to daily life including not being able to see family and friends or do food shopping. In response to this crisis, Cancer Research UK conducted a survey aiming to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients’ testing, treatment and care, day-to-day lives and wellbeing, and support for government policies.
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Content ArticleResearch by the British Medical Association (BMA) concludes that over a million planned operations and treatments as well as over twenty thousand cancer treatments have been cancelled or delayed between April and the end of June this year because of the pandemic. The Association’s research also estimates that more than two and a half million first time outpatient appointments were cancelled during the same time period. This paper coincides with the BMA’s latest survey of 5,905 doctors in England and Wales, asking about the impact of the pandemic on their patients and their working lives. As part of the survey, they were asked if, within the last week, they had treated patients with conditions at a later stage (e.g. cancer, heart disease) than they would normally expect. A little over 40% said that they had. Behind this data are the scores of patients whose routine surgery or procedure has been put aside in the rush to reconfigure the NHS to cope with COVID-19. Even worse, doctors know there are those whose illnesses are far more serious than they were, some now beyond cure.
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Content ArticleAsking a simple yet powerful question: ‘what matters to you?’ can give us, as healthcare professionals, vital insights into the lives of our patients, not always captured in routine assessments. If what matters to a patient is then shared with the whole multidisciplinary team (MDT) it can ensure that ongoing support and treatment is focused around the patients’ priorities, rather than what we think is important as healthcare professionals. It becomes truly patient focused. This blog was written by Ann Bryan, a physiotherapist, and Ines Brito, an occupational therapist, both part of the therapy team working at the Marie Curie hospice in Hampstead.
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Content ArticleThe UKONS Telephone Triage Tool Kit outlines a clear symptom based, RAG rated ( RED, AMBER, GREEN) risk assessment process. It is used for telephone triage of patients who: have received or are receiving systemic anticancer therapy have received any other type of anticancer treatment, including radiotherapy and bone marrow graft/transplant may be suffering from disease-/treatment-related immunosuppression. The UKONS tool is evidence based and has been piloted and evaluated positively. It can be used by almost all, regardless of skill level or experience, and identifies patients at risk and advises action according to the level of risk.
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Content Article
Transforming the cycle of cancer care (December 2017)
Claire Cox posted an article in Keeping patients safe
With cancer prevalence in the UK increasing, the Patients Association led a panel of experts in a discussion to address the negative cycle of cancer care that can sometimes exist. -
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Children with Cancer: A day in the life Laraib
Claire Cox posted an article in By patients and public
Children with Cancer UK is a charity whose mission is to improve survival rates and the quality of survival in young cancer patients, and to find ways to prevent cancer in the future. They fund groundbreaking research to help children with cancer. They,raise awareness to inspire others to help, and they support families with our welfare projects. In these videos, follow Laraib, an inspiring child diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), through a 24-hour window into her life. Understand what it means to be a child living with cancer and learn about the vast support network that’s needed to care for those affected by the disease. -
Content ArticleThis study, published in Patient Education and Counseling, seeks to gain understanding of breast cancer care providers’ attitudes regarding communicating with patients about diagnostic errors, to inform interventions to improve patient-provider discussions.
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Content ArticleA communication passport is a way of supporting a vulnerable person with communication difficulties when they have to transition through different events, such as changing schools, or their first job. Ryan’s family made a specific communication passport for his medical file so that all the medical professionals could learn a little about Ryan before they met him and therefore be better prepared and able to interact with him. Here, his mum shares their example to illustrate how it can be used to improve quality of care.
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Content ArticleAs a cancer professional, there can sometimes be barriers to engaging patients and carers in your work. This film, made by a group of people affected by cancer working with professionals, highlights some top tips to help you get started.
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Content ArticleThere are few validated tools to identify treatment‐related adverse events across cancer care settings. This study seeks to develop oncology‐specific 'triggers' to flag potential adverse events among cancer patients using claims data.
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Content ArticleIn the worst moment of your life, what would you need? In 2017, Jen Gilroy-Cheetham’s life changed forever. Just six months after having her second child, she was diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine tumour and was advised that she would need to undergo open surgery to have half of her stomach removed. Complications led to one of the darkest and scariest times of Jen’s life, as she was put into a hospital ward feeling unwell, vulnerable and unsafe. Now recovered, Jen shares her experiences as a patient from a hospital bed - or audience member - watching all of the healthcare staff around her - actors on a stage - doing everything they could to make her feel safe. In reliving her journey to recovery, Jen highlights what’s needed within a healthcare setting to make patients feel safe. Jen feels that highlighting what’s worked well to help her to feel safe and what needs to change is valuable and may help others in the future.
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Content Article
Review of national cancer screening programmes in England
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Cancers
Leading expert Professor Sir Mike Richards was jointly commissioned by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens and Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock to make recommendations on overhauling national screening programmes, as part of a new NHS drive for earlier diagnosis and improved cancer survival. -
Content ArticleAs cancer care becomes inundated with cutting edge and novel treatments, such as personalised medicine, oral chemotherapy, biosimilars, and immunotherapy, new safety challenges are emerging at increasing speed and complexity.
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Content ArticleThe lack of follow-up or communication of unexpected significant findings can have a serious or life-threatening impact on patients. This was seen in the reference case that informed this Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation. In this event, a 76-year old woman had a chest X-ray showing a possible lung cancer which was not followed up and resulted in a delayed diagnosis. The patient died just over two months after her diagnosis.
