Cancer services on target

THE COUNTY'S hospitals are meeting national waiting time targets for cancer patients.

In the last quarter 90 per cent of Worcestershire patients saw their treatment start within 62 days of a two week suspected cancer referral by their GP.

As well as improving waiting times Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is taking part in the information prescriptions initiative, where tailored information packs are given to patients to help give them a greater understanding of their diagnosis, treatment and support available to them.

Macmillan Cancer Support and Citizen's Advice Bureau are supporting the scheme so people can access financial as well as emotional and pastoral support.

Adel Makar, lead cancer clinician, said: "Not only does early treatment improve your chances of recovering from cancer, it also benefits your psychological and emotional wellbeing.

"Staff across all our departments are working together to make sure patients have rapid access to the best services possible.

"We are continuously analysing all our processes to make sure we’re working in the most efficient way and we’ve seen improvement in turnaround times for CT scans and biopsy results.

"With the national campaigns raising awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, more and more people are being referred to us and we’re being kept really busy. We’re pleased with our performance so far, but it doesn’t stop here.

"We will continue to make even more improvements to all the services we provide and I’d like to thank every single member of staff who has contributed to our work to improve the hospital experience for patients with cancer."

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