Pharmacists’ role combating the late diagnosis of cancer will be investigated as part of a joint programme between NHS England and two cancer charities, C+D has learned.

The ACE programme, a joint initiative by the commissioning body alongside Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, had identified more than 60 potential projects across England that could address the late diagnosis of the disease, said the programme's director Karen Fitzgerald. This included three projects that specifically involved pharmacists, she told C+D on Tuesday (January 13).

The three projects, all in the north of England, built on previous campaigns in which pharmacists had helped raise awareness of symptoms linked to cancer, Ms Fitzgerald said.

“The idea is for the pharmacist to have that first prompting conversation with customers who are in the target audience to benefit from bowel screening or are presenting with symptoms that could indicate other common cancers,” she said.

Direct referral schemes

Alongside the three projects, which would all involve pharmacists referring patients to a GP, the programme group would monitor “one or two” other projects involving the direct referral of cancer patients from a pharmacist to a specialist, Ms Fitzgerald said. If these projects received a good level of support from the NHS and pharmacists then they could form part of a “future wave of ACE”, she added.

NHS England said all of the projects identified by ACE would be evaluated to see if their approach could be implemented on a larger scale from next year. These projects included giving patients the option to refer themselves for diagnostic tests and lowering the referral threshold for GPs, it said.

The ACE programme was announced last Sunday (January 11), the same day that NHS England launched a separate independent taskforce charged with developing a five-year action plan for cancer services. It was intended to deliver the vision set out in last year’s Five Year Forward View document, which called for better prevention, swifter diagnosis, and better treatment and care for cancer patients, the commissioning body added.

David Taylor, professor of pharmaceutical and public health policy at University College London, said the taskforce was “very welcome”, but could only be effective if it focused on how pharmacists delivered cancer care “on the ground”.

“They need to think about creating a system where pharmacy can evolve, back up GP practice and really improve its performance,” he told C+D.

How else can pharmacists improve prevention and diagnosis of cancer?

 

 

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