There have also been significant delays in the treatment of cancer. It is crucial that we look at innovative ways to reduce the cancer backlog.
The Lancet, News
Emma Wilkinson
January 20, 2022
2022 Liz Sommerville/John Birdsall Social Issues Photo Library/Science Photo
The Executive Summary below was edited by the author of this blog as a christian voluntary service. The purpose here is to help fight the pandemic, particularly among the Brazilian audience. For the full version of the article, please refer to the original publication on the 2nd part of this post, with visual editing only.
New Tech Health blog
Joaquim Cardoso MSc. (Chief Editor)
January 24, 2022
Executive Summary
The UK National Health Service (NHS) has struck a 3-month deal with the private sector to provide extra capacity, including for cancer surgery, as the COVID-19 omicron variant puts pressure on hospital care.
- Cancer Research UK estimated that 45 000 fewer people started cancer treatment than would be expected in that first year of the pandemic.
- It follows a previous national partnership agreement between the NHS and the independent sector from April, 2020, to April, 2021, under which: (1) 160 000 cancer and cardiology treatments were delivered, (2) as well as 500 000 scans and diagnostic tests.
- Such partnerships have been used, including: (1) providing haematology day case treatments, (2) MRI scans, (3) support for 2-week wait referral pathways, and (4) surgeries for several cancer types.
- The latest deal with ten independent sector providers will run until the end of March, 2022, and will enable hospitals to call on surge capacity and provide flexibility in the health system, according to NHS leaders.
Other countries in Europe have also made use of public–private partnerships to increase hospital capacity treatment through the pandemic,
- including Spain and Portugal, where, in the second wave, private hospitals offered around 1000 beds (10%) for public health-care patients.
- In Switzerland, several cantons (regions) reached agreements with private hospitals so that the state would reimburse patients through the state health insurance system.
- In Ireland, arrangements were made for public patients to have their care in private hospitals in the first phase of the pandemic, including turning some private sites into COVID-19-free hospitals.
ORIGINAL PUBLICATION
The UK National Health Service (NHS) has struck a 3-month deal with the private sector to provide extra capacity, including for cancer surgery, as the COVID-19 omicron variant puts pressure on hospital care.
It follows a previous national partnership agreement between the NHS and the independent sector from April, 2020, to April, 2021, under which
- 160 000 cancer and cardiology treatments were delivered,
- as well as 500 000 scans and diagnostic tests.
Entire private hospitals turned themselves into specialist NHS cancer centres because of this arrangement, as NHS clinicians managed the first and second waves of the pandemic.
The latest deal with ten independent sector providers will run until the end of March, 2022, and will enable hospitals to call on surge capacity and provide flexibility in the health system, according to NHS leaders.
Peter Johnson (NHS England and University of Southampton, Southampton, UK) told The Lancet Oncology:
“I am hoping that we will not need to make very extensive use of it, but it is always good in these situations to have multiple options for patients.”
He added that collaboration with the independent sector worked best in the first year of COVID-19 at increasing theatre capacity, particularly for surgery that did not depend on intensive care and, in some cases, delivering other treatments such as chemotherapy.
One of the big effects the omicron wave has had on the NHS has been staff absence.
“That has from time to time and in different places had an impact on capacity and so having a private provider who might be able to step in and compensate for that by virtue of their different workforce is something that certainly gives us some flexibility,” Johnson told The Lancet Oncology, adding there might be the option to call on the independent sector to help bring down waiting lists for diagnostic tests and treatments after the COVID-19 wave had passed.
Cancer Research UK estimated that 45 000 fewer people started cancer treatment than would be expected in that first year of the pandemic.
And although 246 316 people in England came forward for a cancer check in November, 2021, there is still a way to go.
Charles Swanton (Cancer Research UK and Francis Crick Institute, London, UK) said: “Although the recent move to pull in more support from the independent sector is positive, it only offers a short-term solution and does not alleviate all the problems currently faced.”
What is needed fundamentally, he added, is clarification on funding for a long-term workforce plan to build future resilience.
A report from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network published in 2021 highlighted how such partnerships have been used, including
- providing haematology day case treatments,
- MRI scans,
- support for 2-week wait referral pathways, and
- surgeries for several cancer types.
Neil Mortensen (Royal College of Surgeons of England and University of Oxford Medical School, Oxford, UK) said:
“It is essential that cancer, cardiac, and other time-critical surgeries can go ahead for patients needing it, despite the pressures that the omicron variant has put on NHS hospitals.”
He added: “In the short term, the deal that the government has struck with these independent providers will create additional capacity in COVID-light sites where cancer operations can safely continue to take place.
However, in the longer term, we must create additional surgical capacity in the NHS.”
Other countries in Europe have also made use of public–private partnerships to increase hospital capacity treatment through the pandemic, including Spain and Portugal, where, in the second wave, private hospitals offered around 1000 beds (10%) for public health-care patients.
In Switzerland, several cantons (regions) reached agreements with private hospitals so that the state would reimburse patients through the state health insurance system.
Matti Aapro (Genolier Cancer Center, Genolier, Switzerland) said:
“The agreements extended the capacity, it did fade away as things got better but with the omicron wave and intensive care starting to be full again, this collaboration is happening again.”
In Ireland, arrangements were made for public patients to have their care in private hospitals in the first phase of the pandemic, including turning some private sites into COVID-19-free hospitals.
“Our research at the European level has shown that as many as 1 million European citizens might have an undiagnosed cancer due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in causing presentational and diagnostic delay.
There have also been significant delays in the treatment of cancer,” said Mark Lawler (Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK).
“It is crucial that we look at innovative ways to reduce the cancer backlog.”
There have also been significant delays in the treatment of cancer. It is crucial that we look at innovative ways to reduce the cancer backlog.
Originally published at: https://www.thelancet.com
Names mentioned
Peter Johnson (NHS England and University of Southampton, Southampton, UK)
Charles Swanton (Cancer Research UK and Francis Crick Institute, London, UK)
Neil Mortensen (Royal College of Surgeons of England and University of Oxford Medical School, Oxford, UK)
Matti Aapro (Genolier Cancer Center, Genolier, Switzerland)
Mark Lawler (Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK)
