Southampton academics who helped shape the UK government's 10-year National Cancer Plan have welcomed the focus on supporting people living with and beyond cancer.
The plan pledges to significantly increase the number of patients surviving cancer and highlights the importance of helping people and their families to have better quality of life and cancer care with more choice.
Also highlighted in the plan, released today (February 4), is the role dedicated clinical nurse specialists, neighbourhood leads and the NHS App and HealthStore can play, plus travel cost support and other measures for children with cancer.
The Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, run by Southampton Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Southampton, features as a case study within the plan.
Professor Claire Foster , Professor of Psychosocial Oncology and Co-Director of CentRIC contributed to the written call for evidence to inform the plan, alongside University of Southampton colleagues Professor Lynn Calman , an adult and mental health nurse and Co-Director of CentRIC+, Dr Lucy Brindle , Associate Professor in Early Diagnosis Research, Dr Chloe Grimmett and Dr David Wright , Senior Research Fellow at CentRIC+.
The team provided evidence-based recommendations across the cancer care pathway, emphasising the need for digital decision support tools for patients considering genetic testing for BRCA1/2 and risk management for people with Lynch Syndrome, improved communication skills training to prevent overtreatment, particularly in prostate cancer, and a transformation of personalised care from tick-box exercises into meaningful and supportive conversations to inform care plans and support patients to live as well as possible with the consequences of cancer and its treatment that can be long lasting.
In December, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) invited Professor Foster to join a roundtable session to inform the National Cancer Plan - providing a significant opportunity to help shape one of the government's most important health policy initiatives.
Professor Foster said: "Our research has identified that psychosocial factors such as quality of life, mental health and confidence to manage illness related problems, are as important as disease-stage in determining long-term health and wellbeing outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer.
"It is critical to identify unmet needs as early as possible after diagnosis and assess how confident patients and survivors feel in managing what is happening through high-quality, supportive conversations to ensure that people get the right care and support at the right time during treatment and after treatment has ended.
"A welcome action in the new National Cancer Plan is assessment of personalised needs at the point of diagnosis to inform personal cancer plans including physical, mental health and social needs as well as support following treatment."
Professor Calman , who was a member of the National Cancer Plan, Living With and Beyond Cancer taskforce, added: "Tailored care and support, including access to digital resources, improves quality of life and engagement with cancer care. It can also improve readiness for and tolerance of treatment, reduce unnecessary interventions, enhance satisfaction with care, and support long-term health and well-being.
"That's why we recommend evidence-based digital self-management tools such as CanEMPOWER and RESTORE to help mitigate the physical and psychological impacts of cancer and its treatment.
"The new National Cancer Plan sets out a vision to make resources like these available to patients and families through the proposed digital HealthStore linked to the NHS App as well as connect all patients with clinical nurse specialists and neighbourhood leads."
Also included in the 10-year plan is travel cost support and other measures for children with cancer.
Professor Anne-Sophie Darlington , who specialises in child and family psychological health, said: "The diagnosis of cancer is devastating, especially at a young age, and clinical trials and early diagnosis can make the difference around survival. Families and young people have told us about their challenges, and financial difficulties and need for mental health support come up all the time.
"We need to make sure that we do everything to minimise suffering. So seeing these measures feels like such an important step, to really being committed to improving the lives of these young cancer patients and their families."
Professor Gareth Griffiths , Director of the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Southampton, added: "In this plan, the government has pledged to work closely with academic researchers and the life sciences industry to drive innovation and expand access to clinical trials.
"An exemplar case study appearing in the plan is the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit is currently running on behalf of NHS England, and which is accelerating patient access to trials of new cancer vaccines and novel immunotherapy treatments. We hope to see more investment in these sorts of programmes which can make a real difference to our cancer patients and provide evidence for new treatments for the NHS.
"This plan sets out ambitious and welcome promises for cancer research and treatment, and the next steps will be seeing how the government delivers these."
The University of Southampton has announced plans for a groundbreaking new medical institute in the city, which will bring the greatest minds in medicine, computer science and engineering together in one brand new building. The pioneering Institute for Medical Innovation will be a joint initiative between the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
The £100m facility will bring researchers and medics together in the fight against devastating diseases such as cancer, dementia, sight loss, infectious diseases and respiratory and allergic conditions.
