Representatives of the NHS West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have been toasted for their good work in improving cancer survival rates by being invited to Parliament. The work carried out by the CCG has recently seen one year survival rates for victims of cancer best the average across England (70%) by achieving a rate of 72%.
West Lancashire CCG
The CCG is West Lancashire’s organisation responsible for “buying and healthcare for the people of West Lancashire”. Made up of 22 practices it cares for around 112,000 local residents every day. Housing a number of local schemes, the CCG has led the way in trying to improve statistics in West Lancashire for a number of common health problems including:
- Cancer
- Respiratory Diseases
- Mental Health Problems
- Dementia
- Cardiovascular Problems
One of the team who visited Parliament, Senior Service Redesign Manager Carol McCabrey, said of the CCG’s success “One of the key ways that we ensure we have such high figures is through partnerships with providers and partners like Ormskirk & Southport hospital trusts to improve cancer pathways”. Currently the goal within the CCG is to encourage local residents to see a Doctor as early as they can if they suspect or identify a potential problem to improve survival rates with earlier identification and treatment.
European Standards
The figures are an encouraging read for cancer patients in West Lancashire; however more work is to be done. Among the European countries, The UK is improving and becoming one of the better equipped but still lags behind the best performing nations like Sweden who have a current first year survival rate of 82%.
Overall survival rates still fall behind the leading nations, but with figures improving year on year thanks to the tireless effort of CCGs across the country, the future looks promising for cancer care across the board.
Targets set by the CCG in West Lancashire are to continue the upward trend of one year survivors, with a view to improving the overall survival rate in the long term. With good campaigns, equipment and medical staff, there’s plenty of reason to feel confident about the future of Lancashire healthcare.