We must lead a relentless drive towards earlier diagnosis
Prof. Tom Crosby ― Medical Director, Wales Cancer Network
The earlier the stage at which a cancer is diagnosed, the better outcomes are for the patient, for their loved ones and carers, and for health services and the economy. Our health system faces the challenge of a huge backlog of need resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Better early detection and diagnosis of cancers, powered by innovative technology and practice, could represent one of the best ways to bounce back, recover, and serve patients into the future.
To take just three examples: fully digitized diagnostic infrastructure, novel rapid diagnostic pathways and lung health checks have all been trialled in practice around the globe. These innovations have huge positive implications: increasing how many cancers we can identify early, increasing the volume of patients we can offer curative treatment, and reducing strain on the healthcare system. Introduced the right way, these innovations can reduce inequalities in cancer outcomes too.
‘Towards a roadmap for Cancer ED&D in Wales’ offers a constructive vision for what post-pandemic early diagnosis cancer pathways and services might look like, and how we might get there. We hope it helps inform decisions on cancer early detection and diagnosis services across Wales; we’ll be using it to guide Moondance’s funding and partnerships into the future.’
You can download the roadmap below, as well as the scoping paper we used as our evidence base.