Airedale Hospital takes part in ACE2 cancer pilot project

Airedale Hospital is taking part in a national pilot to change the way patients with cancer symptoms are referred.

The pilot project will make positive changes to the way in which patients with concerning cancer symptoms are being referred, to give them quicker access to diagnostic tests.

The trust is one of five hospital sites across the UK taking part. It is the second phase of the National Accelerate Coordinate Evaluate (ACE) project, an early diagnosis initiative delivered alongside NHS England, Cancer Research and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The project aims to deliver a new streamlined patient cancer pathway for patients with vague, non-specific but concerning cancer symptoms who do not meet the criteria for existing cancer pathway or for those patients who are too unwell to wait.

Patients are contacted by a Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist from Airedale within 24-48 hours of their referral to discuss their symptoms in detail - not usually possible within the confines of a regular GP appointment. Depending on symptoms, patients are then booked in for diagnostic tests if appropriate, prior to being seen in a clinic.

Over the first six months of the pilot, the service received over 70 referrals, all who have been seen quicker than they would have had the project not been in place.

The pilot has been successful so far at improving patient outcomes by reducing cancer waiting times and providing diagnosis sooner, as well as saving hospital resources.

It is hoped the scheme could be rolled out across the country.

Claire Waddington, clinical nurse specialist, said: “The pilot enables us to make a difference to the way in which patients are seen and how resources are used, it eliminates unnecessary outpatient appointments and it has the potential to reduce hospital admissions. Most importantly, it has a positive impact on the patient’s experience.”