“As the National Clinical Lead for HPB cancer for NHS England, I have been very pleased to be involved in the work of the Clinical Reference Group for the National Pancreatic Cancer Audit (NPaCA). The audit is now in its third year, having been launched in October 2022 as one of a family of cancer audits which sits under the umbrella of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN). The team has been highly successfully in collaborating closely with a wide range of stakeholders in order to play its part in improving care and outcome for pancreatic patients.
Although still in its relative infancy, the audit team delivered a number of key outputs to aid the important work being undertaken within the pancreatic cancer community. These outputs include a Quality Improvement plan, Quarterly data dashboards and in September 2024, the team published its first State of the Nation Report and Patient and Public Involvement report). These reports gave an overview of how different clinical elements of the pancreatic cancer pathway across England and Wales and importantly, highlight any variation in practice for clinical treatments.
For the forthcoming 2025 version of the State of the Nation report, the NPaCA team has commenced its work in analysing data from a wide range of existing National cancer registration datasets, and over the coming months, myself and other members of the audit’s Clinical Reference Group will be discussing the resulting key findings from this analysis and identifying a number of recommendations for trusts to take forward over the next 12 months and beyond. I am hopeful that we will see important improvements in patient care, for example, disease-targeted treatment rates and supportive aspects of care. The findings and recommendations identified by the audit team, will continue to provide trusts and cancer alliances with guidance on how to reduce variation in pancreatic cancer care across the nation, to the benefit of those patients and families coping with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
The report is due to be published in September, and I would strongly urge clinical colleagues to use the information and key recommendations to support and improve patient pathways and clinical practice”.
Paula Ghaneh (pictured above), NPaCA Clinical Reference Group member, Professor of Surgery at the University of Liverpool, and National Clinical Lead for HPB cancer for NHS England.