Posted on: 8 September 2023
Hello, my name is Jason. I am the Managing Director for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance and NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, Associate Director for Cancer. Next week, I will have been in the role for two years, continuing this vital agenda for the people we are here to serve.
The setting for the leadership blog for this week comes at a time of change for the Cancer Alliance, so I wanted to begin by profiling the changes into the team, recognising the achievements of those who have recently moved on and the skills and backgrounds of those who will enrich our impact as a team as new starters.
This week, we have been pleased to welcome Michelle Beaumont into the position of Deputy Programme Director. Michelle joins us from her previous post as Divisional Director of Operations for Access, Booking and Choice, and Cancer, at Mid Yorkshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Michelle has a significant working background in cancer services over many years and has previously worked with the Cancer Alliance via our Living with and Beyond Cancer Programme, which seeks to support patients with their wider, holistic, support needs at the point of initial diagnosis and as they continue their treatment. Her clinical insight, operational leadership background, and compassion to transform care for people affected by cancer in West Yorkshire and Harrogate will be a great addition to our team, supporting us to deliver our ambitions of improving the stage of diagnosis towards the goals set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Michelle joins us because of the retirement of Fiona Stephenson, who has been an oracle of knowledge, wisdom, and professionalism for many years, and we are hugely grateful for her support and dedication. Fiona was one of the original members of the Cancer Alliance, when our mandate was narrower and, in the early days of the Partnership, we navigated our way into the organisational shape and ethos of a Cancer Alliance from the previous organisational structures of strategic clinical networks and cancer networks respectively.
We have also welcomed Husna Munir to the Cancer Alliance, who will be supporting the activities of our workforce lead, Rachel Moser, and in particular the activities we are completing to create further sustainability and innovation within the cancer workforce. We continue with redesign activities to support non-surgical oncology transformation, alongside partnership work reviewing the functions of cancer care coordinators; navigators; the ACCEND programme; improving clinical nurse specialist workforce skill mix and sustainability; and activities linked to developing non-medical consultant roles – further linked to our ongoing clinical leadership development programme, working with Prospect.
Later this month, we will be welcoming Emma Duffy to the Cancer Alliance, who will be supporting us to respond to the national cancer planning agenda around liver cancer surveillance. As a system, we understand that it can be particularly difficult to achieve regular surveillance of patient groups who are at higher risk of liver cancer due to cirrhosis. There is some fantastic out-reach work which we are pleased to be supporting via the operational delivery network, led by Diane Williams, and this role will help us to map current service structures, referral pathways, and develop the case for a recall system for liver surveillance amongst high-risk groups. Emma will also be supporting us to increase our role and profile in the field of rarer cancers, supporting the development of additional optimal pathway groups on a regional basis, building on our established functions.
Katy Priest will also be joining us from her current posting at Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Katy will be joining us to support the work of our diagnostics lead, Lynn McNamee, and in particular the activities around enabling and ensuring best use of the community diagnostic centres for people with suspected cancer symptoms, our relationships with the diagnostic delivery networks at a regional level, and West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts at a system level. Further, our work involved in supporting cancer transformation where use of, and access to diagnostics, is a central feature – examples include the use of the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) on the lower GI pathway.
Karen Westaway will be working with the Cancer Alliance to support the expansion of access to lynch syndrome testing across the system. Each year, 1,100 colorectal cancers are caused by Lynch syndrome, making it the most common form of hereditary colorectal cancer. An estimated 175,000 people have Lynch syndrome in the UK, but fewer than 5% of individuals know they have the condition (Bowel Cancer UK), so it is vital both to build awareness of this condition and expand access to testing, as part of our broader work on genomics.
Sarah Hodgson will be leaving the Cancer Alliance this week to pursue an expanded clinical management role, closer to home. Sarah has been a dedicated member of our Optimal Pathways team, supporting some our work to improve breast and prostate cancer pathways, through initiatives such as community breast pain clinics and nurse-led access to biopsies for prostate and access to targeted screening initiatives. Sarah has built a reputation, along with other members of the team of building good clinical relationships, mobilising work plans, and supporting the delivery of transformation. We wish her all the best for the future.
These movements of people in the team underline that the work of the Cancer Alliance is dynamic, and we continue to need to be agile to the changing requirements of national planners, alongside the operational requirements of our partners locally.
Creating harmony between local need and national policy is not always an easy balancing act to achieve, and, in common with other NHS England funded and accountable programmes, we have recently received expected notice of an earlier than usual start to the planning cycle for next year. Traditionally, the process starts on Christmas Eve and completes somewhere around the Equinox, whereas this year the starting pistol will be fired in Halloween, so we hope it follows that we can have an Easter focussed on delivery – and the obligatory chocolate eggs!
As early signals and subject to usual approval processes, we are expecting continuity of cancer priorities for next year, with the expanded role and utilisation of community diagnostic centres a central feature, as systems seek to reach a position of at least four in five patients being referred on the cancer pathway being confirmed or excluded within 28 days of referral. There will be a renewed focus on cancer 62-day performance delivery and pathway focusses which reflect existing areas of Alliance activity including for lower gastrointestinal, breast, gynaecological, prostate, liver, and other cancers, such as pancreatic.
We are also anticipating heightened focus on an asymptomatic population screening programme for cancer, called GRAIL, based on the Galleri clinical trial, subject to initial results due to be published by the end of the financial year. This scheme sees people who are aged between 50 and 77 invited to provide several samples of blood over a multi-year period, which are screened for the presence of cancer DNA cells. If a positive cancer detection signal is created, this indicates a risk of around 40% for a tumour, which is aimed to be stageable at a point where an active intervention with curative intent can be offered.
This technology is also expected to compliment the role of PinPoint blood testing in a symptomatic setting, which uses a similar approach of detecting cancer risk alongside a reference library of markers associated either with, or without presence of cancer. It is increasingly clear that, subject to positive results from the service evaluation, that this technology will also be supported, and that, subject to relevant regulatory clearances, will be able to support and influence cancer referral management going forwards – offering reassurance to those with a lower cancer risk, and ensuring expedited access to diagnostics for those with elevated risk.
As a team, we have responded to our changing remit and delivery focus by refreshing our web presence, which is now an updated repository of information for clinical professionals, patients, and other members of the public with an interest in our work.
You can find out more here - https:/
- The launch of a new mobile liver clinic, with partners in the Operational Delivery Network, that will save lives “on the move.”
- Our ongoing public and community engagement work around the sustainable model for non-surgical oncology, building on the option developed into the Targeted Operating Model, as agreed by WYAAT.
- Our annual innovation competition, building on our pipeline of 25 currently supported schemes, has extended its reach and focus this year to create two new categories, specifically a collaboration with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to encourage innovation in the field of living with and beyond cancer working with the Power of Communities programme; and an expanded focus of our Patient Education Bursary. These build on the schemes established for workforce and rarer cancer innovation in the acute-sector, and opportunities for place-based teams to innovate in the fields of screening, awareness, and early diagnosis, outside of the funding allocated to Core20Plus5. Details of the schemes (and application forms) can be found online, with further details available from wyicb-wak.
wyandhcanceralliance .@nhs.net - Working with our partners to support the implementation of cancer screening awareness programmes for the LGBTQ community, particularly focusing on barriers experienced by the trans community.
- Enabling awareness and supporting the system response to the changes announced to cancer waiting times by NHS England last month.
- Development of ongoing funding for Magseed technology, an innovation that helps a surgeon locate a tumour and increases the probability of removing it completely.
Finishing on a bright note to start the weekend. In the world of complex systems, it can be on occasion difficult to measure when a difference is being made and achieve proof of impact.
When the Integrated Care Board ambitions were set (by our Health and Care Partnership at the time), the goal for cancer was that at least 1,000 more people would have access to treatment with curative intent. Clearly, these goals were set before the Covid-19 pandemic, but our recent rapid registration dataset for cancer shows that 1,382 more people cumulatively have been diagnosed with cancer at stages 1 and 2 at the end of the last financial year, than was the case when the strategy was set.
These are real improvements in clinical outcomes of which every partner involved in their delivery, should take note and be proud, whilst recognising that we have a huge journey ahead of us to progress to the goals set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. We know that, by 2040, the population living with cancer in West Yorkshire will more than double from where it is now, and the rate of referral for urgent suspected cancer checks has already doubled over the last decade. The burden and impact of cancer remains one of the central population health challenges faced by our system and the people who face health inequalities within it.
That said, if we keep making steady progress, we will build the shape and future of interconnected and integrated cancer services that we all need – right from primary prevention to earlier diagnosis, to better and more effective treatment, and through to compassionate, personalised, end of life care. It will be crucial to maintain this interconnectivity and spirit of common collaboration across all levels, as the Cancer Alliance continues to work with its partners.
Have a good weekend,
Jason
Hi everyone, I’m Sarah and I am the Clinical Services Manager for the Health and Wellbeing Academy based at the University of Huddersfield.
My role involves developing nursing and allied health student-led clinical and wellbeing services. One of these student-led wellbeing services is Get Set Goal. As part of this service, our students go out into the community and provide blood pressure testing, amongst a range of other basic observations.
To date, more than 40 of our nursing and allied health care students have provided over 2,000 blood pressure checks across Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield in a diverse range of venues, from agricultural shows to museums and mosques.
This week is Know Your Numbers Week - a national campaign to encourage everyone to have their blood pressure checked.
Blood Pressure UK advocate that getting your blood pressure checked is the first step to preventing heart attacks and strokes. High blood pressure is a major cause of these diseases but usually has no symptoms until it’s too late, which is why it’s known as ‘the silent killer’.
We know that Kirklees has greater stroke prevalence and worse outcomes in terms of mortality rates when compared to national averages. The West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is prioritising population health and stroke, and in Kirklees it is a priority that people are as well as possible for as long as possible.
I’m really proud that our students are making a positive difference to people’s health and quality of life in our local area, as well as making a valuable contribution to the Partnership priorities.
I wanted to share with you what our Get Set Goal students will be doing during Know Your Numbers week and why it is important that people take the time and opportunity to get their blood pressure checked this week.
Here is what Mailikah Aziz- Student mental health nurse (First Year) who is currently on placement in Get Set Goal says about knowing your numbers: ‘’Knowing your numbers is important because if high blood pressure is left untreated for a while, it could lead to serious problems such as heart attacks and strokes. It can also allow us to prevent further conditions and health worsening.’’
This week, our students will be out in the community and in workplaces doing blood pressure checks, including Yorkshire Ambulance Service headquarters, Huddersfield Police Station and Kirklees Health and Care Partnership.
Throughout the year we travel to various venues in Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield, and beyond, offering blood pressure checks. If you missed us this week, don’t worry, we will also be at the following venues:
- 23 September: Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Open Day, 11am-3pm
- 20 October: Old peoples Information and Advice fair Todmorden Town Hall, 10am-2pm
- 23 October: Tolson Museum, 11.30am-2.30pm
- 26 October: The Mission, 10am-1pm
Thank you for reading and have a good weekend,
Sarah
What else has been happening this week?
Know your numbers week
High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 people in the UK, and many don’t know they have it. It can cause strokes and heart attacks if left untreated. Please make the time, ease your pressure and get to know your numbers. Find out more about why this is important in this short video by Rob Webster
Involvement around policy harmonisation
NHS West Yorkshire ICB is reviewing and aligning its commissioning policies to make sure that everyone gets the same access to treatments, wherever they live in West Yorkshire. This process will also make sure all our policies are in line with the latest expert advice, and that we make the best use of limited resources.
We have looked at 32 commissioning policies so far and are recommending changes to eight of those policies to make them the same across West Yorkshire. The eight policies are gluten-free prescribing; aesthetic abdominal procedures; body contouring; breast lift; breast reduction for male gynaecomastia; breast surgery; liposuction; and ear correction surgery.
As some people living in West Yorkshire could be affected by the proposed changes to these policies, involvement has taken place to seek people’s views on the recommendations.
Further details about the ICB recommendations, both stages of involvement and links to the involvement reports and supporting information can be found on the ‘previous involvement’ section of the website here: Your views on treatments paid for by the NHS.
West Yorkshire welcomes New Zealand’s Chief Science Advisor
Last week, the Partnership welcomed Ian Lambie, Chief Science Advisor for the Justice Sector, New Zealand Government.
Ian took time out of his UK holidays to learn more about the West Yorkshire Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Programme’s pioneering approach to tackling and addressing barriers that people affected by trauma can experience when accessing care.
The programme, set up in 2020 and jointly delivered by WY HCP and West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), has an ambition to ensure West Yorkshire is a trauma informed and responsive system by 2030. Ian’s visit was inspired by a national online conference where Dr Warren Larkin and Emm Irving, our Head of Improving Population Health, talked about our approach.
During the two-day visit, Ian found out more about initiatives to prevent harm and improve wellbeing, particularly for those who are most vulnerable and face multiple difficulties.
He met the men’s champions group and prison officers at HMP Leeds who have undergone trauma informed training. He also visited Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT)'s trauma navigator pilot, BLOSM. The nationally recognised project aims to support people who come to A&E with complex social issues, giving colleagues the training and tools to identify these concerns and make appropriate referrals into community services.
Colleagues, including our CEO Rob Webster and senior leaders, took the opportunity to share best practice with Ian, including our annual adversity, trauma and resilience knowledge exchanges which attract hundreds of people. They also shared projects to combat cyber bullying, reduce violence against staff and how we are training thousands of multi-agency colleagues. Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Fellows presented projects being carried out as part of this year’s Improving Population Health Fellowship. Those projects range from building trauma informed workforces to the importance of language and from reducing harm caused by alcohol and drugs to trauma sensitive classrooms. Finally, Ian joined a webinar about the importance of the adversity, trauma and resilience work on a global level.
Ugandan Ministry of Health visits West Yorkshire & Harrogate maternity and neonatal services
Dr John Paul Bagala, Technical Officer Safe Motherhood at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, is on a visit here in West Yorkshire & Harrogate throughout September. We wish him a very warm welcome and look forward to sharing updates on his time here with us.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) have been working in collaboration with the Uganda UK Health Alliance (UUKHA) since 2021 to share good practice around high-quality safer maternity and neonatal care for pregnant women across both countries. The Strengthening Health workforce Capacity through Global Learning (SCALE) program focuses on building health workforce capacity in critical care, emergency medicine, maternal foetal medicine and neonatology through virtual clinical grand rounds, clinical fellowships and enabling global placements.
The first project helped the development of an LMNS in the Kampala Metropolitan area, which was so successful that the Ugandan Ministry of Health has since decided to replicate it with 14 more LMNSs planned across the country.
In April, following her attendance at the Africa UK Health Summit in London the Permanent Health Secretary of Uganda, Dr Diana Atinwe graciously accepted our invitation to West Yorkshire. This event brought together a range of stakeholders to review our progress and future objectives, and in the Permanent Health Secretary’s words to reflect that “The journey we have started will change women’s and children’s lives”.
Dr Bagala will be conducting a Clinical Observership with the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust covering Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, which will emphasise safety and governance processes in a UK tertiary referral hospital and experience mandatory training sessions, governance meetings. He will also be visiting the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust and the Harrogate & District Foundation Trust so as to compare different maternity settings and provide greater understanding of how the LMNS works in day-to-day practice.
This clinical learning will not only strengthen Dr Bagala’s own capacity, but will inform future collaboration between our regions and identify both demand and capacity for future shared learning opportunities on both sides of the partnership. Future elements of our partnership agreement include designing Fellowships with clinical professionals heading in both directions, as well as the logistics of such events will also benefit from his visit. In addition to his clinical observerships, he will also be gaining insight into the wider WY ICB activities, organisation and governance.
Dr Bagala's also visited a ‘What Matters to Me’ workshop focussed on partnership working, a West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board event held on Monday 4 September at Kala Sangam, Bradford.
Partnership Board
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Partnership Board met this week (Tuesday 5 September) via digital technology. The meeting was livestreamed with the papers and recording available on our website.
Chaired by Cllr Tim Swift, Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council, the meeting included an update from Rob Webster, CEO Lead for our Partnership, as well as a report on the partnership agreement between the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
There was an update about Project Hope (a project to support care leavers into employment) as part of our patient and public voice, as well as a West Yorkshire People Board update from Kate Sims, the ICB People Director. Finally, there was an overview on the Partnership Ambitions – Joint Forward Plan.
Keighley Cougars back our Check In With Your Mate campaign
Bradford Rugby League club Keighley Cougars dedicated Sunday’s home match against Barrow Raiders to the Partnership’s Check In With Your Mate suicide prevention campaign, to mark the upcoming World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. Players warmed up in Check-In With Your Mate branded T-shirts and leaflets were handed out to supporters throughout the stadium. The promotion was possible thanks to funding from Bradford Council’s public health team.