Breast Clinical Network

Clinical Lead: Mr. Martin Sintler (SWBH), Project Manager: Kelly Hayward (BCPC), Operations Lead: Samantha Beck (SWBH)

Through a series of engagement activities, the clinical lead, operations lead and project manager for the BCPC Breast Clinical Network, identified an initial set of priorities for progression, which:

  • Contribute to improving acute breast services with a focus on achieving 2-week wait cancer targets; and
  • Support demand management in parallel to increasing available capacity.
  • Reviewed and identified referral processes that could be streamlined or improved to return performance to the required target range
  • Identified opportunities to maximise the workforce skill mix more optimally
  • Identified opportunities for longer term transformational work which would provide for better service quality and performance alongside patient experience and health outcomes on a sustainable basis.

Further specific details on these priorities can be found in Appendix A, alongside an end of year out-turn delivery position. The programme of work also includes several innovative initiatives to increase system resilience and ensure services are sustainable in the long-term.

Through concerted efforts across the four partners, noticeable progress had been achieved by October 2022, with services achieving key performance targets once more.

The two delivered priorities are:

  • Breast pain clinics – Creating Breast Pain Clinics as an alternative pathway for patients with benign conditions which accounted for 20 per cent of 2WW referrals and supporting reduction of 2WW waiting times, enabling the prioritisation of urgent cases.
  • GP referral form standardisation – Review of current breast proforma’s across the system, identifying non-compliant GP practices via audit to standardise.

Looking Ahead

As we move forward in 23-24 the Breast network will focus energies on:

  • Sustaining the positive progress that has been made to date
  • Delivering the three priorities which are focused on supporting elective recovery, and
  • Progressing three transformation projects to explore consolidation of the acute breast units, establish a Radiology Alliance and establish a plastics reconstructive unit providing free-flap surgery is currently under discussion and subject to approval.

More Information

You can read more about the Breast Clinical Network in the BCPC Annual Report 2022-23.