The target in Scotland is that 95 per cent of eligible cancer patients should be treated within 62 days of referral. However the latest figures up to the end of June show them waiting more than twice as long, prompting opposition calls for cancer waits to be ‘top priority’, that ‘Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial’, and for ‘delivery of Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres’.

When waiting times are long, the obvious thing to call for is more capacity. But it isn’t the end of the story.

Cancer pathways are complex, time-critical, and often cross different NHS departments, hospitals and sectors, even in a single day. Pathway information is scattered across multiple computer systems and organisations. Agreed clinical pathways are presented separately in flow charts. All this complexity makes it difficult and time consuming for cancer tracking staff to prospectively track every patient reliably and determine the right next steps for their care.

This is a problem that Insource can solve. Our cancer pathway management software automatically acquires, standardises and unifies cancer pathway data from all required sources. The front-end software gives full visibility of all pathways, including conformance to configured optimal pathways. It focuses staff on real-time prospective management of patients, right up to their day of treatment and beyond, as well as generating reports to enhance existing retrospective performance assessment.

The result? Staff spend less time obtaining and reporting data, avoid duplicating their efforts, and can devote more time collaboratively to improving cancer pathway management conformance and solving the root causes of delays and bottlenecks.

If your cancer waiting times are longer than you’d like, and significant extra resources are unlikely to ride to the rescue any time soon, then why not talk to us? We’ll be happy to explore how better pathway management can make better use of the capacity you already have.