NHS review of specialist services

The NHS Trusts that manage our hospitals in Lancashire and South Cumbria have been working together with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to look at how a number of specialist clinical services can be improved.
 
There are currently projects looking at urology cancer surgery (including bladder, prostate and kidney), head and neck cancer services and vascular services. As part of this we are continuing a review of these services which started in 2019. We are now looking at how future services could be designed.
 
We want to make sure everyone receives the highest quality of care and can access a full range of services no matter where they live.
National guidance recommends moving to a network model for services, which other areas of the country already have in place.
 
A network model would mean hospital teams working more closely together to share expertise and workload. Outpatient clinics and some same-day surgeries would still take place at a hospital nearest to patients, but more complex and specialist surgical procedures would require patients to go to a centralised centre of excellence. This model is already used in some specialties and in other parts of the country. We are investigating the issues that would affect patients in Lancashire and South Cumbria if we were to move towards such a model of providing care for the three specialties above.
 
We have already spoken to some patient support groups and patients through the hospitals. If you have experience of these services, we invite you to complete our questionnaire which will feed in to this project.
 
If you have experience of urology or head and neck cancers, please complete this questionnaire:
​ www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Cancerservicesclinicalreview/

 
If you have experience of vascular services, please complete this questionnaire:
 www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/vascularservicesurvey/