A new survey is launched asking what the public want from NHS cancer care, but within it is a hint as to where Kent NHS Chiefs might be looking next to make more savings.

It’s in question 2 that the real purpose of the survey reveals itself. NHS managers need to get some of the public to agree to the idea of less consultant and nurse time for cancer patients, and so they have couched it as a benefit  -‘get back to living life/close to home’, and buried it in question 2, which goes as follows:

“We want to give people the right support and information so they can get back to living their life as normally as possible after cancer treatment. Most people prefer to manage their own care close to home. People who have had cancer treatment will still need to continue with routine follow-up tests, but may not need to go back to hospital for lots of appointments with their consultant or cancer nurse unless something is flagged-up in their results, or if they are worried about their cancer returning. What do you think about this plan?”

It sounds initially as if they are just describing the needs and expectations in cancer care generally, and then in the last sentence we realise that this is a plan – it’s a change that they are proposing. They are proposing that patients “may not need to go back to hospital for lots of appointments with their consultant or cancer nurse… What do you think about this plan”. It will of course catch unsuspecting respondents off guard, and they won’t pick up on what they are being asked to agree to.  These are not very nice tactics, but we see them repeated often. Ss an NHS campaigner you become accustomed to reading between the lines and spotting these tricks.

So less specialist cancer care is very likely to be the new direction for Kent and Medway STP (Sustainability and Transformation Partnership – ie the tier of managers who are tasked with cutting NHS costs). Removing cancer patients from consultants’ lists, and removing their automatic access to a cancer nurse is what appears to be next on the menu of service cuts, salami slicing, downgrades and closures.

As ever, Save Our NHS in Kent will be investigating further.

THE PLANS FROM 2015-16

It has always been a concern that cancer care will come under the spotlight of the NHS cutters, as it was listed in the 2015-16 Kent and Medway STP plan along with acute care and mental health. All plans in that document were oblique, cancer especially so. Mentions are made of a ‘cancer task force’, ‘further development of Kent’s cancer centre’ and a ‘comprehensive cancer service’. Does this mean a centralised single cancer unit for the whole county?

THE CANCER CARE SURVEY

It was a SONIK supporter who alerted us to the new the new cancer survey. She sent us screenshots of her responses to the questionnaire, which are published below. This is very useful as we now have a clear picture of what the survey is about. I wonder how many respondents to the survey will connect the dots and respond in this way…?

In summation: whenever you are asked by the NHS to ‘help improve a service’ by filling in a survey or giving your opinion, be aware that the service they are asking about might be in line for a ‘haircut’, and answer accordingly!