At least week’s full meeting, Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board backed plans for a new regional model of delivery for urgent and emergency cancer care – called Acute Oncology (pdf).
The new model, which covers the south-east of Wales, has also been provisionally approved by the other two health boards taking part – Cardiff & Vale and Aneurin Bevan. The full business case is available here (pdf).
Acute Oncology includes patients who arrive at accident & emergency departments with complications arising from suspected or undiagnosed cancers, as well as patients who suffer serious complications as a result of known/diagnosed cancers. There are estimated to be around 10,000 acute oncology hospital admissions across the three health boards each year.
The new model was brought forward two years ago because the health boards have collectively failed to meet required standards by not having a treatment pathway for these emergency/acute cancer patients
The proposed model will see an increase in the number of specialist clinical nurses deployed across all sites, though most specialist hospital-based cancer services would continue to be provided at Velindre Hospital in Cardiff. One of the major changes would be a digital system to allow virtual consultations to speed up access to specialists.
The new service would also run on slightly extended operating hours, from 8 am – 8 pm Monday-Friday (currently 9 am – 5 pm), though the health board were told that weekend working will be considered in the future.
It’s expected that the new model will free up more than 11,000 bed days in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board alone by reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and reducing the length of time patients spend in hospital.
