New report reveals that Barts Health has best surgical resection rates in England
Barts Health NHS Trust has the best surgical resection rates for lung cancer in the country, indicating that more patients at St Bartholomew’s Hospital are having life-saving surgery to cure their cancer than anywhere else, according to a new report.
Resection rates refers to the number of patients undergoing surgery to cure their lung cancer as opposed to other treatments which are often less successful.
The National Lung Cancer Audit report shows that the resection rates for Barts Health have increased to 33.3%, the best in the country and significantly better than the national average of 18.3%.
The NLCA annual report uses data to provide a summary of key findings, national averages and geographical variance across an agreed list of lung cancer service performance indicators and patient outcomes.
Barts Health’s rates of providing chemotherapy for patients with a type of lung cancer called small cell lung cancer has also improved to 89.5% against a national average of 68.7%, the 8th best result in the country.
The report, published in August 2020, details results for the period covering January 2018 to December 2018, and compares this to the national average for the same period, as well as the performance of the Trust in previous years.
The NLCA is a programme of work that aims to improve the quality of care, services and clinical outcomes for patients with lung cancer in England, Scotland and Wales.
It makes recommendations around quality improvement for healthcare executives, multidisciplinary teams and commissioners of lung cancer services. The programme also makes comparisons against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and other recognised standards of care.
Dr Will Ricketts, consultant chest physician at St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospitals, said:
“To improve from a below average resection rate to the best in the country in just five years is an incredible achievement.
“This is the result of a massive effort from a huge team, many of whom are unsung heroes who have all bought into the core ethos of our multidisciplinary teams where holistic patient centred care comes first.
“From enhanced surgical techniques using cutting edge technology to simple measures like ensuring patient’s lung function results are available to the MDT, this all plays an important contribution to the care we offer our patients.”
For further information about cancer care at Barts Health please visit the Barts Cancer Centre page.