All hospitals with an emergency department asked to provide acute oncology services

New best practice guidance published to improve quality and safety of chemotherapy.

Experts have recommended that all hospitals with an A&E department should provide acute oncology services to ensure the correct treatment of emergency cancer patients and those who suffer severe side effects from chemotherapy, Health Minister Ann Keen announced today.

The recommendation forms part of new best practice to improve the quality and safety of chemotherapy published by the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group (NCAG).

The report titled – Chemotherapy Services in England: Ensuring quality and safety sets out:
- Recommendations that all hospitals with emergency departments should establish an acute oncology service that can quickly identify the symptoms and then treat appropriately patients who develop severe side effects from chemotherapy or undiagnosed cancer patients who present as emergencies
- Further recommendations on issues around chemotherapy such as decision to treat, patient consent, prescribing and dispensing, and information for patients and carers
- A new framework for commissioning, delivering and monitoring chemotherapy services
- The importance of information and communication when treating chemotherapy patients

Health Minister Ann Keen said:

"I welcome the report published by the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group which makes recommendations on improving the quality and safety of chemotherapy services.

"The report's main recommendation is that all hospitals with emergency departments should establish an acute oncology service which will look after patients who develop severe side affects after chemotherapy and patients who present as emergencies with previously undiagnosed cancer.

"All cancer treatment in Britain has improved vastly in recent years due to the excellent progress the NHS has made in improving cancer outcomes and services for patients.

“The challenge now is to keep up this momentum and we will now work with the NHS to implement the recommendations of this report."

National Cancer Director Mike Richards said:

“The use of chemotherapy has expanded markedly in recent years and while this has brought huge benefits to the majority of patients serious concerns have been identified in the quality and safety of treatments.

“This new guidance will help all hospitals improve the quality and safety of their treatment and I urgently ask them to adopt these guidelines.

“Setting up acute oncology services is an innovative idea. We have done an impact assessment which has found the implementation cost will be neutral overall because the improved quality of treatment will reduce the number of emergency bed days.”

Cancer Research UK Chief Executive Harpal Kumar said:

"It's vitally important that A&E departments are able to offer a specialist cancer service. Many people with undiagnosed cancer either don't recognise or choose to ignore signs and symptoms of the disease for so long that they eventually end up being admitted to hospital in an emergency.

"Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health have established the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) to encourage people to be aware of symptoms and visit their family doctor with concerns early enough. But we need to have in place adequate systems for people who leave it too late, so we welcome this new initiative."

(DH) NHS healthchecks to help reduce heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and kidney disease - Preventative checks will soon be available in England -

NHS Health Checks, which could prevent 1600 heart attacks and strokes each year and help save 650 lives will begin from April this year, announced Health Secretary Alan Johnson today.

The Health Secretary also announced the start of two further groundbreaking measures - the abolition of prescription charges for cancer patients and the start of MRSA screening for elective patients.

Everyone aged between 40-74 in England will begin to be invited for a free health check as part of a national programme to identify their risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. The programme is an essential tool in tackling health inequalities across the country.

The health checks are part of a drive to ensure that people from this age group have the necessary information about their health in order to make important lifestyle changes and reduce their risks of developing diseases like diabetes and coronary heart disease. These illnesses currently affect the lives of 4 million people in England and are responsible for a fifth of all hospital admissions.

The checks are part of the drive towards a more preventative NHS.

The health checks will consist of:

* Straightforward questions to patients on their health and diet, exercise habits and family medical history
* Height and weight measurements taken from patients
* A simple blood test for cholesterol and in some cases for glucose levels
* A follow up, personal assessment setting out the individual's level of risk and what they can do to reduce this
* Recommendations of what could be done to reduce risk including: weight management programmes, stop smoking, physical activity programmes

Local Primary Care Trusts are designing their own local implementation plans to make sure that they can deliver the checks and follow up services that will be best suit the needs of the local population.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said:

"The NHS is becoming more personal and responsive to individual needs; becoming as good at prevention and keeping people healthy as it is at providing care and cures; and able to offer the information and support people need to make healthy choices.

"There are a number of different commitments that we are delivering on which will start from this April. The national programme of Health Checks could save 650 lives a year and reduce the health inequalities that blight the lives of the country's most deprived families.

"Screening of all relevant elective patients for MRSA before admission is an and additional preventative measure that will help to protect patients against infection, and also, free prescriptions for people living with cancer and related conditions is one less worry for them at such a difficult time and will be welcomed by many patients and their families."

The preventative checks will be rolled out across England from April and will be fully implemented by 2012/13. They are likely to be available at GP surgeries, health centres, walk in centres and pharmacies to ensure as many people benefit from them as possible.

Further measures to protect patient's health being delivered by the NHS on April 1 include all NHS Trusts being able to offer MRSA screening to all relevant elective patients. This will allow the NHS to reduce the chances of patients getting an MRSA infection, or passing MRSA onto another patient. Although the number of people getting infections from MRSA is falling (latest figures show reductions of 38 per cent), we still have further to go and this is part of our continued efforts to reduce numbers even further.

April 1 is also the date when the abolition of NHS prescription charges for everyone undergoing treatment for cancer, the effects of cancer, or the effects of cancer treatment, will also come in to effect. Up to 150,000 patients already diagnosed with cancer are expected to benefit, saving them £100 or more each year in prescription charges.