Project Name: NNUHFT Breast Cancer Service Expansion – Collaborative Working Project – 2025 Amendment

Project Summary:

Overview
The project has been amended as an outcome of further conversations with the CW partner to widen the cohort of patients within the scope for the project (including both early and metastatic Breast Cancer Patients). 

2024 Project Aims & Overview (UK2402121282)
The Collaborative Working Project (CWP) aims to free up capacity within the breast cancer pathway with the addition of a dedicated new role (the “Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy Clinical Nurse Specialist (SACT CNS)”) providing pre-treatment education and optimisation, and support for the management, pre-assessment, review, education, and follow-up of metastatic breast cancer (“mBC”) patients who are eligible for Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (“SACT”) therapies. There is a national attention on the stability of breast oncology services and an urgent need to pilot new workforce options and ways of working to manage increasing demand and help tackle the backlog of patients. Demand is increasing at an unprecedented rate within breast oncology services at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Trust “NNUHFT”), as described in further detail in the ‘Background’ section of the PID. 

By integrating the SACT CNS into the service, the CWP aims to: 

  • improve patient outcomes and experience by reducing time between referral, diagnosis, and treatment;
  • increase patient awareness of the cancer pathway thus fostering patient empowerment;
  • support the NNUHFT breast cancer team with management of patient databases.

 

Expected Benefits:

Anticipated benefits for patients:

  • Improved access to evidence-based treatment(s); 
  • Increased access to equitable, consistent and standardized care.
  • Reduce patient waits in the clinic given extra capacity created by new workforce role.
  • Increased access to education on eBC and mBC treatment to improve adherence and consequently patients’ outcomes, supported by a personalized care plan that aim to help patient education and awareness
  • Enhanced experience for patients and their carers who live with a breast cancer diagnosis;
  • Increased access to education on breast cancer will enable patients to distinguish potential disease progression and the side effects of treatment; 

Anticipated benefits for the organisation:

  • Increase the overall quality of care and improve equity of access to specialist care for patients with breast cancer;
  • Reduction in waiting list times, reduce use of emergency triage line and unplanned admissions
  • Provide a single point of contact for a dedicated cohort of patients, thereby reducing the potential for unplanned calls being received by the wider clinical team.
  • Free up consultant capacity for clinical activities that are unique to their skillset.
  • Increased awareness of the breast cancer treatment pathway.
  • Increase the overall quality of care and improve equity of access to specialist care for patients with breast cancer requiring treatment initiation, evaluation and monitoring.
  • Provision of subject matter expertise to educate other members of the clinical team on treatment options.
  • Workforce efficiency and optimisation by removing administrative burden from clinical staff and coordinating patient care
  • Increased clinic efficiency by ensuring all up to date tests results are available at the right time
  • Increase the overall quality of care and improve equity of access to specialist care for patients with eBC requiring treatment initiation, evaluation, and monitoring

Anticipated benefits for Novartis:

  • Better understanding of overall customers’ and patients’ needs;
  • Insights into optimal use of medicines in line with local/national guidance (including Novartis medicines) in appropriate patients.
  • Ethical, professional, and transparent relationship between Novartis and the Healthcare Organisations
     

Start Date & Duration: Feb 2024 for 32 months

FA-11488587 | August 2025