Cancer Alliances – improving care locally

Cancer Alliances bring together clinical and managerial leaders from different hospital trusts and other health and social care organisations, to transform the diagnosis, treatment and care for cancer patients in their local area. These partnerships enable care to be more effectively planned across local cancer pathways.

Also in this section:

Cancer Alliance priorities

Each Cancer Alliance brings together the key organisations in their area to coordinate cancer care and to improve outcomes for patients locally. This year, the priorities for cancer are to:

  • Deliver all eight waiting time standards for cancer, through increasing capacity, encouraging cross-organisation working, and brokering agreements between providers to balance supply and demand more effectively across the system.
  • Ensure all trusts are collecting the faster diagnosis standard mandatory data items starting from 1 April 2020.
  • Demonstrate improvement in the number of lung, prostate and colorectal cancer patients diagnosed in 28 days.
  • Implement the oesophago-gastric timed pathway in all trusts.
  • Deliver improvements in uptake of the NHS cancer screening programmes, based on local need.
  • Implement one Rapid Diagnostic Centre (RDC) for a defined population within each Cancer Alliance geography and develop an implementation plan for further roll-out of the RDC model.
  • Develop and implement a plan for year one of the Targeted Lung Health Checks programme (for Alliances participating in the programme).
  • Implement a supported self-management follow-up pathway for approximately two-thirds of patients who finish treatment for breast cancer.
  • Provide access to personalised support from diagnosis for all breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients (including secondary cancer).
  • Agree clinical protocols for stratifying the follow up of prostate and colorectal patients across all trusts and implement systems for remote monitoring for these patients.

Cancer Alliances have funding agreements in place with NHS England and NHS Improvement (national and regional teams) for 2019/20. These agreements set out the funding they will each receive to deliver these priorities.

Map of Cancer Alliances in England

  1. Map of Cancer Alliances in England numbered from 1 to 21Northern Cancer Alliance
  2. Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance
  3. West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance
  4. Humber, Coast and Vale Cancer Alliance
  5. Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance
  6. Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance
  7. South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Cancer Alliance
  8. West Midlands Cancer Alliance
  9. East Midlands Cancer alliance
  10. East of England – North Cancer Alliance
  11. East of England – South Cancer Alliance
  12. North Central London Cancer Alliance
  13. North East London Cancer Alliance
  14. RM Partners
  15. South East London Cancer Alliance
  16. Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance
  17. Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance
  18. Wessex Cancer Alliance
  19. Thames Valley Cancer Alliance
  20. Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire Cancer Alliance
  21. Peninsula Cancer Alliance