PCA Literature Review

A new approach to suspected cancer pathways.

The Peninsula Cancer Alliance commissioned NHS South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit to undertake a Rapid Literature Review. This was in anticipation of the need to make the offer of remote appointments with cancer clinicians are more common practice due to the  the COVID-19 pandemic. This need stems from:

  • Efforts to address back logs created by the NHS COVID-19 response (Phase 3 Recovery).
  • The need for cancer pathways to be more tailored and stratified to create much needed capacity in the system. This is to meet the pre-pandemic demand and a year on year growth in cancer services.
  • Uncertainty regarding future restrictions as a result of the pandemic.

The Rapid Literature Review was asked to cover:

  • The impact the pandemic has had on cancer services and patients
  • How remote consultation methods are used in cancer care across the whole patient pathway, and the effectiveness of these methods
  • The experiences of patients and clinicians using them
  • Issues relating to impact on health inequalities, ethics and governance, and organisational and workforce requirements

Documents can be downloaded using the below links;

PCA Literature Review

Virtual solutions for managing cancer care