Macmillan: Caught in the Maze

Macmillan | February 2021 | Caught in the Maze

Caught in the Maze is a new report from the cancer charity Macmillan. It takes stock of how far the UK’s health and care services still need to go on integration for high-quality, personalised cancer care to be a reality for everyone.

This document highlights that experiences of cancer services are far from seamless. People with cancer are still falling into the cracks between primary and secondary care: information is not always tailored to individual needs; support for wider needs, including mental health, is patchy and often delayed. Cancer professionals and the wider workforce are working flat out, but the system is too geared towards rapid measurement of diagnosis and treatment. Personalised care is too often an ‘add on’.

Image description: an illustration of a maze in green and white

The report identifies four key areas (dimensions) which need addressing:

1. Ensuring that everyone who has cancer has access to personalised, joined up care
2. People with cancer are supported by health and care professionals
3. People with cancer should be supported by dedicated, cancer professionals
4. Services need to be designed, commissioned and funded around the goal of personalised, integrated cancer care (Source: Macmillan).

The report Caught in the Maze is available from Macmillan

“Something told me I needed to get checked out, I noticed that it was different this time….”

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance | nd | Ric’s Story – “Something told me I needed to get checked out, I noticed that it was different this time….”

The last five years have been a real rollercoaster ride for Ric Myers, after being diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2016.

“I’d always had what I called a smoker’s cough, but this time, something in me told me I needed to get it checked out, I noticed that it was different this time.”  

Ric was prescribed steroids, an inhaler to loosen his chest and enable the infection to clear, and was also referred to Harrogate Hospital that afternoon for a chest x-ray. He received a telephone call an hour later and was advised that his chest congestion was such that antibiotics were needed after all. 

Ric was told to take the full course and wait two weeks before being referred back for a second  chest X-ray, after which he was called back to the GP surgery and told that something abnormal could be seen on the film. An appointment had also been made for Ric at the Macmillan Robert Ogden Centre in Harrogate, pictured below.

“The doctor told me there was something there, possibly cancer, and the impact of that word really is what people say it is. You automatically assume the worse,” said Ric. “I was told not to look on the internet but, of course, you do and that can make things worse.”

Following CT and PET scans, and a needle biopsy, Ric was told  he had a tumour the size of a cherry tomato and underwent a  keyhole lobectomy of his right lung. It was found to be stage 1 lung cancer.

The operation went well but Ric’s road to recovery has been a complex one.

Despite a number of setbacks on his road to recovery, he is now progressing well and recently signed up as a West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Champion, volunteering to use his own experience of cancer care to help others, through a programme of symptom awareness raising and prevention advice.

An infrequent visitor to his GP, Ric acted on signs and symptoms that he felt were unusual for him, and sought advice when he developed what he had initially believed to be a persistent cough and chest infection. He is now backing the national #HelpUsHelpYou campaign to encourage more people to do the same (Source: West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance).

Read Ric’s full story from West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance

[NICE Technology Appraisal] Niraparib for maintenance treatment of advanced ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer after response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy

NICE | 17 February 2021 | Niraparib for maintenance treatment of advanced ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer after response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy

NICE has published Evidence-based recommendations on niraparib (Zejula) for maintenance treatment of advanced (FIGO stages 3 and 4) high-grade epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer after response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy in adults.

Full details from NICE

New oncology collaboration established to drive forward translational cancer research

NIHR | February 2021 | New oncology collaboration established to drive forward translational cancer research

The National Institute for Health Research has announced the NIHR Oncology Translational Research Collaboration (TRC), it unites leading cancer researchers from across the NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) to drive forward innovative research in key areas including early diagnosis, surgery, immunotherapy and radiotherapy. Through working in partnership, the Oncology TRC will be able to carry out research that requires real collaborative effort, and would not be possible by centres working alone. It will also complement research undertaken by other cancer research networks.

Full details about the TRC are available from NIHR

To find out more about the Oncology TRC, visit its page on the NIHR website or contact nocri@nihr.ac.uk to find out how you can work with the collaboration. 

[NICE Technology appraisal guidance] Brigatinib for ALK-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer that has not been previously treated with an ALK inhibitor

NICE | 27 January 2021 |Brigatinib for ALK-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer that has not been previously treated with an ALK inhibitor

NICE has publisehd evidence-based recommendations on brigatinib (Alunbrig) for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer that has not been previously treated with an ALK inhibitor.

Full details from NICE