Cancer Reform Strategy - First Annual Report - Merseyside ...

45Chapter 7:Delivering care in the most appropriate settingProgress:• Establishment of NHS Improvement project to transform inpatient care for cancer patientsPriorities for the coming year:• Significant improvements in inpatient care• Improving MDT workingIntroduction7.1 New models of care can bring significantadvantages to patients and release resourcesfor other developments. The Cancer ReformStrategy (CRS) set out a number of actions todeliver care in the most appropriate setting, andthis chapter reports on progress.Inpatient care7.2 The CRS identified that:• little attention had been given to cancerinpatient care to date• England had higher bed utilisation for cancerthan other countries and that this accountedfor a large proportion of total cancerexpenditure• over 14,000 cancer patients were in hospitalat any one time• this equated to around 29 occupied beds per100,000 population and around 435 for aNetwork with a population of 1.5 million• 60% of these beds were occupied by patientsadmitted non-electively• inpatient care for cancer patients accountedfor 12% of all inpatient bed days• most people diagnosed or suspected tohave cancer had at least one admission intohospital.7.3 Previous testing work carried out by NHSImprovement and the National Cancer ActionTeam (NCAT) identified opportunities to improvethe quality of the inpatient experience andimprove the efficiency and effectiveness of theelective and emergency inpatient pathway. Thelearning from this early work led to a nationalprogramme being established with a specificfocus on transforming inpatient cancer care.7.4 The Transforming Inpatient Careprogramme covers six major work streams:• patient experience – to commence with abaseline assessment• new models of care• commissioning• research and evaluation