Evaluating cancer care development facilitators in supporting ambulance and urgent care services

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) provides emergency and urgent care to the largest area of any ambulance trust in England, covering 10,000 square miles, equivalent to 20 per cent of mainland England. In the UK, an estimated 2.3 million people were living with a cancer diagnosis in 2015, and 3 million people are predicted to be living with or beyond cancer by 2030.

There will inevitably be an increase in ambulance services attending cancer patients. The five year cancer strategy for England highlights a number of priorities with expected benefits, including ‘better integration of health and social care such that all aspects of patients’ care are addressed, particularly at key transition points’ and ‘a radical improvement in experience and quality of life for the majority of patients, including at the end of life’. The ambulance service plays a key role in these areas.

SWASFT and Macmillan Cancer Support worked together to improve cancer and end of life care in the South West. They identified gaps in providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time. As a result, Macmillan funded three cancer care development facilitators in SWASFT, along with a project manager. Each facilitator covered a geographical patch, responding to local needs, but with common objectives.

The objectives of the role were:

1. Building the team: Empowering and educating staff, developing a competent workforce
2. Service improvement – systems: Identifying opportunities for improving the patient journey
3. Service improvement – clinical: Supporting the development of clinical guidelines and specific pathways/directory of services