New cancer hospital set to unite care for blood cancers and solid tumours

Posted 13th October 2015

A major new cancer hospital is set to bring the care of people in Liverpool* with blood cancers together for the first time with those for solid tumours after a landmark agreement by NHS trusts and commissioners in the city.

Unlike most cities, blood cancer services in Liverpool are completely separate from those for solid tumours. While The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre provides services for all other types of cancer, blood cancer care is currently split between Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Aintree University Hospital.

Now The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, Aintree University Hospital and NHS Liverpool CCG – the GP-led commissioners of health services in the city – have agreed to bring the services together, subject to a full business case in 2016 and approval by regulators.

It means that Liverpool people with blood cancer will benefit from:

• Access to the highest level of medical expertise, while still being able to have their treatment locally wherever possible;
• Equity of access with patients who have solid tumours to the best cancer support care including counselling, psychological and peer support, financial advice and therapies; and
• Enhanced access to innovative treatments through clinical trials.

The agreement follows overwhelming clinical consensus among the city’s cancer specialists that the current split is increasingly unsustainable if people with blood cancers – the fifth most common kind in the UK, with 321 new diagnoses in Liverpool each year – are to continue receiving the very best care in years to come.

That’s because recent advances in medical knowledge and treatment options mean doctors have to become ever more sub-specialist – there are more than 100 different kinds of blood cancer – if they are to provide the best care and lead ground-breaking research. They can only do this by combining their expertise as part of bigger teams, sharing their knowledge and research along with those specialising in other types of cancer.

The new agreement will create a single blood cancer service across Liverpool, together with care for people with other types of cancer, and all managed by The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. The blood cancer services currently provided in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital will move into The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s new 11-floor hospital next door, which is due to open in 2019.

Liverpool CCG is committed to funding c£12m as a contribution towards the cost of increasing the capacity of the planned new hospital to accommodate blood cancer facilities.

Patients currently seen at Aintree University Hospital will also benefit from the agreement. The vast majority of blood cancer services at Aintree University Hospital are outpatient care and will remain there, but with the added sub-specialist expertise of a single team working across the city.

Commissioners and the trusts will also carry out public engagement on further proposals to improve care by bringing services into the community and expanding The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s chemotherapy at home service to include blood cancer patients.

They will also seek people’s views on proposals to move a small number of inpatient beds for complex and seriously unwell patients from Aintree to the new cancer centre, where clinicians believe they would benefit from access to the highly-specialised care and treatments that could be provided by combining the Royal and Aintree teams.

Dr Peter Kirkbride, Medical Director of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “Clinicians across Liverpool have been united in agreeing that creating a single blood cancer service, together with solid tumour oncology, all within a hospital solely focused on cancer care is absolutely the right way of ensuring patients receive the best treatment for generations to come.

“The development of our new cancer hospital, combined with the clinical momentum and partnership emerging through the Healthy Liverpool Programme, presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform care in this way. We are delighted by the agreement and fully committed to ensuring Liverpool’s blood cancer care leads the way nationally, by working with patients, staff and others to deliver highly-specialist, expert care as close to home as possible.”

Professor Andy Pettitt, Consultant Haematologist at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, said: “The development of a new centre for patients with blood cancers is a fantastic opportunity for hospital staff to work more as specialist teams and help ensure that patients in Liverpool receive the best possible care in a dedicated facility.”

Dr Fiona Lemmens, Clinical Director for the Healthy Liverpool Hospitals programme, said: “Bringing care together for people with blood cancers aligns with the Healthy Liverpool vision to establish single-service city-wide hospital services; improving patient experience and outcomes and enabling seven-day services. This is one of the first examples of how we are transforming our hospital system so it remains clinically and financially sustainable for the long term.”

Steve Warburton, CEO of Aintree University Hospital NHS FT, said: “The creation of a Haemato-Oncology Centre of Excellence at the new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool is essential to our vision of providing world class services to our patients. Clinicians believe that this will mean a significant improvement in the quality of care for patients from across the region, and we fully support this.”

*Note: The proposal relates to blood cancer services in Liverpool city