Living With And Beyond Cancer Work Programme

The key ambitions for cancer in the Long Term Plan are that by 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for five years or more, and by 2028, 75% of people with cancer will be diagnosed at an early stage (stage one or two). The ambitions will be delivered in a way that improves quality of life outcomes; improves patient experience outcomes; reduces variation, and reduces inequalities.

More people than ever are surviving a cancer diagnosis, with more than half of those who receive a cancer diagnosis living 10 years or more. This progress has been driven by improvements in our knowledge of how to treat and control cancer, combined with the commitment of NHS staff to deliver transformative care. However, we need to make sure that we don't just help people to live longer, but to live well.

Around 85,949 people diagnosed between 1995 and 2017 are living with and beyond cancer in West Yorkshire and    Harrogate. By the year 2030, it's expected that this number will rise by 48,000 to 134,000 people. Many of these people living with a cancer diagnosis are older and may have other health conditions too.

As well as dealing with the physical and psychological effects of a cancer diagnosis, many people face other  difficulties such as worry and depression. Some people may have difficulty returning to work and experience financial concerns as well as relationship and family issues, as well as possibly facing long term side effects of cancer treatment.

The aim of this Cancer Alliance programme of work is to ensure those living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis receive the help and support they need to live as full, healthy and active a life as possible during and after cancer treatment. This care and support will vary from person to person and should be tailored to their own specific needs and those of their family and loved ones. This ensures resources are directed to the people most in need of them.

Objectives of the Living With and Beyond Cancer Programme

The overall purpose of the Living With and Beyond Cancer programme is to support patients to lead as full and active a life as possible following a diagnosis of cancer. We will do this by:

• Supporting the implementation of Personalised Care Interventions throughout the cancer teams in the region promoting opportunities for supported self-management and accessing support in the community and care closer to home.
• Assuring delivery of clinically appropriate Personalised Stratified Follow-Up and Supported Self-Management pathways for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer patients in line with the NHS Long Term Plan
• Promoting a more integrated approach between primary care, secondary care and the voluntary sector to deliver better outcomes, quality of life and patient experience
• Identifying regional variance in Personalised Care Interventions, information and support offered to patients diagnosed with either a treatable but incurable cancer diagnosis or an incurable cancer diagnosis to identify how these individual needs can be better met

Future Living With and Beyond Cancer events, conferences and webinars can be viewed on the Cancer Alliance Events Calendar.

Click here to see a list of national charities supporting people living with and beyond cancer

Personalised Care

Personalised care is an overall care and support package, which was formerly known as the Recovery Package, and includes access to personalised care interventions from their cancer diagnosis to the end of treatment and beyond. This offer of information and support includes access to personalised care and support plans, based on holistic needs assessment, health and wellbeing information and support, an end of treatment summary and a cancer care review by your GP. 

Implementing personalised care interventions within the cancer pathway will act to ensure variations across the region are reduced. By ensuring  everyone has the same access to support and information in their local community,  people affected by cancer and their families can better support themselves and manage their conditions and needs more effectively, empowering them to live as full and healthy a life as possible after a cancer diagnosis and treatment .

Our primary focus will be on Alliance wide coverage in the four most common cancers (breast, colorectal, prostate and lung) in the first phase. Places making faster progress will be supported to expand the personalised care interventions into other less common tumour sites. Sharing of good practice and collaborative working across the region will be promoted by West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance.

Learn more about NHS England Personalised Care interventions

More about work on Personalised Care in West Yorkshire and Harrogate

Click here to view the Personalised Care and Support video from NHS England 

View the Macmillan Cancer Support video about the benefits of the Recovery Package

Personalised Stratified Follow Up

We are also supporting the acceleration of clinically appropriate Personalised Stratified Follow-Up for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer patients. This is a follow-up approach tailored to the specific needs of each patient. This can involve a reduction in the frequency of hospital-based follow-up, ensuring GPs and hospital staff have all the information they need to provide follow-up closer to the patient's home and the patient is empowered to manage their condition. This also potentially frees up outpatient appointments for new diagnosis and patients with more complex disease.

Increased, appropriate and consistent use of personalised stratified follow-up also has the potential to free up clinical time at the earlier stages of the patient journey, providing teams with the additional capacity to deal with the growing number of patients being identified through early diagnosis, prevention and screening work.

Involving Patients

The involvement of patients is fundamental to the delivery of all Cancer Alliance work programmes.

The communications and engagement activity of each workstream will support its specific business objectives and also align with the overarching Cancer Alliance communications and engagement strategy.

They will each be supported in this work by the Patient Experience Expert Advisory Group, which is looking at the development of new and innovative approaches to ensure patient experience is viewed on a par with clinical outcomes and is a driver for service improvement.

More information about how to get involved with the Cancer Alliance

Helpful Information - Living With and Beyond Cancer

Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes - the national strategy outlines recommendations specifically aimed at meeting the needs of people living with and beyond cancer, particularly at the end of treatment, with an emphasis on tailoring care to patient needs by providing care in line with the recovery package and stratified follow up pathways.

NHS Long Term Plan - identifies the importance of digitising outpatient care including remote monitoring and focusing on empowering patients to self-care

NHS Five Year Forward View, NHS England, 2014

NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2019/20:  guidance promoting stratified follow up pathways to be developed and in place for breast, colorectal and prostate by March 2020.

Cancer Research UK - State of the Nation Report 2019

Living With and Beyond Cancer: Taking Action To Improve Outcomes, Department of Health, NHS Improvement, Macmillan, 2013

Click here for information you may find helpful if you are a patient or a person affected by cancer.

Click here for information you may find helpful if you are a professional and/or providing care or support for a person affected by cancer.

Click here to learn more about our work to support patients with a palliative diagnosis.