Cancer Reform Strategy - NHS Cancer Screening Programmes

70Chapter 5:Living with and beyond cancerChapter Summary●●●●●●●Commissioners should ensure that NICE guidance on supportive and palliative care isimplemented as planned by December 2008;National information pathways and tailored information prescriptions will help to ensure thatpatients receive high quality information at each step in the care pathway;All senior cancer professionals will, over time, be expected to demonstrate that they havethe necessary competencies in face-to-face communication;Improved information and communication will empower patients who wish to be involved indecision making;Commissioners and providers should ensure that the critical roles of clinical nurse specialistsin information delivery, communication and coordination of care are supported;A new national cancer survivorship initiative will be established; andProgress on improving the experience of cancer patients will be monitored through annualsurveys.Introduction5.1 The NHS Cancer Plan highlighted the factthat the diagnosis and treatment of cancer canhave a devastating impact on the quality ofpatients’ lives and that of their families andcarers. Cancer patients face uncertainty and mayhave to undergo unpleasant and sometimesdebilitating treatments. Patients and theirfamilies and carers, need access to informationand support throughout the care pathway.5.2 Many patients find the following timesparticularly challenging: the time arounddiagnosis; the period immediately followingcompletion of treatment; the time of any relapseand the time when it is clear that the end of lifeis approaching.5.3 The incidence of cancer is rising, due mainlyto the ageing population. Survival rates forcancer are also improving, with ten year survivalrates having doubled in the last 30 years andcontinuing to increase. This means that the totalnumber of people living longer with cancer isgrowing considerably. Many patients who arecured of their cancer may be left with physicalor psychological effects from the diagnosis andtreatment of their disease. Some cancer patientswill live for many years receiving activetreatment as their disease relapses and remits.As more patients become long term survivors ofcancer it is increasingly important that theyshould be provided with the assistance theyneed to resume as normal a life as they can.5.4 National Institute for Health and ClinicalExcellence (NICE) issued guidance in 2004 onthe provision of supportive and palliative carefor adults with cancer. In response to this,cancer networks have developed action plans