Bowel cancer programme praised for excellent service
11/05/2018
This article is more than five years old.
The Bowel Screening Programme provided by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been praised for excellent service and patient care.
As part of an a two-yearly Quality Assurance assessment, Public Health England visited the team at the John Radcliffe Hospital in April 2018 and assessed them on their patient care, service levels, and key performance indicators.
The service was highly praised by Public Health England - in particular the fact that the service has not breached its two week wait cancer pathway for five years. The two week window is for the time between referral to the hospital following a screening, and receiving initial assessment for treatment.
Terry Tran-Nguyen, Oxfordshire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Manager at the Trust, said: "This is very good news for people in Oxfordshire. More than 41,500 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK, which is the equivalent of someone being diagnosed every 15 minutes. Achieving cancer waiting time standards is considered by patients and the public to be an indicator of the quality of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and care. I am so proud of the bowel cancer screening team and how quickly we can see our patients.
"The screening programme launched in 2010, and in eight years we’ve gone from a team of six, to a team of more than 20 staff and are now one of the leading trusts in the UK for bowel screening."
Endoscopy and screening at the Trust
In 2018 the Trust expanded the Endoscopy department at the John Radcliffe Hospital with a £1 million investment. It included the addition of an extra procedure room, bringing the total up to six, and two more private discussion rooms.
In November 2017 the upgraded Endoscopy department at the Horton General Hospital was accredited by the prestigious Joint Advisory Group (JAG) on Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. JAG accreditation is a patient-centred scheme which is based on the principle of independent assessment against recognised national standards. It was developed for all endoscopy services across the UK in both the NHS and independent sectors.
This well-deserved national recognition is great news for patients and staff in the Endoscopy Department, which was officially re-opened in November 2016 after the Trust invested nearly £2.7 million in it.
Later in 2018, bowel scope screening test appointments will also be available at the Horton General Hospital. They're currently at the John Radcliffe Hospital from Monday 1.00pm to 4.00pm, Tuesday and Wednesday 1.00pm to 7.10pm, and on Saturdays from 8.00am to 6.00pm.
For more information please see Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
Pictured: the Oxfordshire Bowel Cancer Screening team