Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
As the cost of cancer treatment increases and rationing becomes a reality, it is time we took better care of our resources.
Cancer forms a big part of my working life. Every day I make one or two suspected cancer referrals (usually for breast cancer), and follow up those under oncology or palliative care. It is an emotive and intensive area to work in ? more so than almost anything else that I have experienced.
With cancer, the emphasis is always on early diagnosis, achieving complete cure or symptom-free longevity. It is the specialists who decide on the suitability of treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
These decisions are based on the type of cancer, the stage the disease has reached, and various recommendations. For instance, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) takes a robust evidence-based approach before it approves drugs.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/11/ration-cancer-treatments-nhs
Cancer forms a big part of my working life. Every day I make one or two suspected cancer referrals (usually for breast cancer), and follow up those under oncology or palliative care. It is an emotive and intensive area to work in ? more so than almost anything else that I have experienced.
With cancer, the emphasis is always on early diagnosis, achieving complete cure or symptom-free longevity. It is the specialists who decide on the suitability of treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
These decisions are based on the type of cancer, the stage the disease has reached, and various recommendations. For instance, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) takes a robust evidence-based approach before it approves drugs.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/11/ration-cancer-treatments-nhs