The number of patients receiving an innovative treatment for brain tumours will more than double over the next three years as a concrete step towards the implementation of NHS England’s Cancer Strategy.
NHS England has announced the award of new contracts for stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy (SRS/SRT) – specialist forms of radiotherapy that can be used to treat patients with intracranial conditions, such as benign and malignant brain tumours.
More than 6,200 patients a year are expected to benefit from these services by 2018/9, compared to just over 2,400 in 2014/15. The new SRS/SRT services are spread across all regions of England, improving access to services and making it possible to treat more people closer to home.
Over the course of the seven-year contracts, the increased number of SRS/SRT treatments will be delivered for significantly less than they would cost at current per-patient prices thanks to efficiencies of around 25%. Furthermore, by increasing access to these advanced forms of radiotherapy, fewer people will have to undergo more invasive and costly treatments such as surgery.
Dr Jonathan Fielden, NHS England’s director of specialised services, said: “As a result of this procurement thousands more patients will benefit from this very precise and effective form of treatment. This is another example of how NHS England is working hard to achieve better services and outcomes for patients at the same time as better value for the health service.”
SRS/SRT are specialised services delivered by a highly-skilled team of neurosurgeons and oncologists, working together with specialist radiographers, physicists and other professionals as part of multi-disciplinary teams. This means they need to be provided in a limited number of hospitals across the country with the expert teams and aligned to existing networks.
Services are delivered using a number of different technologies and platforms, including Gamma Knife, CyberKnife, and specially-configured linear accelerators. The technology delivers precisely-directed beams of radiation to the target site, meaning that there is less of risk of damage to surrounding healthy tissue and thus fewer side effects for patients.
The services are arranged to ensure that patients in all areas of the country have access to SRS/SRT for more-common illnesses - largely for brain tumours and metastases - while three national centres of excellence will provide specialist care and support for children and patients with rare and complex conditions, such as vascular and other non-tumour conditions.
Providers will start delivering SRS/SRT services during 2016 and work swiftly towards a significantly expanded service.
As part of the Cancer Strategy, further improvements to radiotherapy access and quality will be the subject of a separate Radiotherapy Services Review. The review will produce a plan for a modern national radiotherapy network by September, with a revised radiotherapy service specification by the end of the year.
Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is one of the newly-designated units that will deliver SRS/SRT services. Medical director, Dr Peter Kirkbride, said: “This is truly-fantastic news for patients in Merseyside and Cheshire.
Stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy are exceptionally precise and deliver a high dose of radiation to a small, focused area. This makes it ideal for treating tumours in particularly-complex or vulnerable parts of the body such as the brain, because it substantially reduces the risk of damage to surrounding tissue.
"“This investment in the expansion of SRS/SRT will enable even more patients to benefit from this advanced and effective cancer treatment, significantly improving their quality of life and prognosis.”
And Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's clinical director of neurosciences, Dr Richard Grunewald, added: "Sheffield has a long history of providing specialist ‘Gamma Knife’ treatments. This new, expanded service will improve access to this advanced form of treatment, and give even more patients access to one of the country’s-finest stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy facilities.”