Since arriving at the Conservative Party Conference on Sunday night the news has been dominated by healthcare reform.
Not long after coming to power the Coalition Government announced plans to radically reform the health service. The scale and pace of the reforms are practically unmatched in the NHS’ history and – as you might imagine – have divided opinion.
The main thrust of the Government’s vision is that GPs, through consortia, will manage the majority of the health budget by 2013 and commission the majority of services.
Last night the Royal College of Nursing – the trade union for nurses- warned of the ‘highly ambitious timescale’ of reform.
Just last week the British Medical Association were even stronger in their criticism, stating that the reforms could undermine the stability of the NHS and are ‘potentially damaging.’
There is now a real buzz around the conference for the Secretary of State for Health’s speech today where Andrew Lansley will no doubt address these views (as I write this he has walked right past me – I wonder if his ears were burning!).
But what does all this mean for cancer?
Our conference fringe event this afternoon looked at how the NHS can better support cancer survivors once they have completed initial treatment. A lot of people spoke about how many cancer survivors are abandoned once treatment is over and too often their emotional, physical and financial needs are not addressed.
A key theme coming out of our fringe meeting was the need for better communication between primary, secondary and community care. Better communication and integration of services is absolutely crucial to the delivery of a personalised aftercare service which people living with and after cancer need. We believe that by giving every cancer survivor a post treatment assessment and care plan their aftercare will be appropriate to their needs and will be better coordinated and delivered. Find out more about this by following this link: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/GetInvolved/Campaigns/Survivorship/Livingwithorbeyondcancer.aspx
So how can GP commissioning deliver this? We think it will be crucial for cancer survivors to work in partnership with GP commissioners in the designing, purchasing and evaluation of services. This is essential to ensure that the whole care pathway is truly integrated and personalised.
We will continue to push for this as the debate on health reform continues.
We really need your support as we set about this task. To get involved go to:
