Monitoring progress
6.12 The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), working in association with the Audit Commission, is currently undertaking a study to review progress in implementing the Calman/ Hine Report.
This will provide an independent assessment of the current state of cancer services and will be a baseline against which to measure future progress. CHI will also inspect every NHS organisation every four years to assure the quality of local clinical governance arrangements.
6.13 Experience in several regions over the past few years has shown that regular peer review is a valuable way of improving and developing the quality of cancer services in support of local clinical governance. This enables a more focused assessment of the future development needs of local cancer services across a cancer network than the CHI inspections will be able to provide. Peer review is now being extended to cancer services in all parts of the country. The report from the peer review assessments will be made available to CHI to assist in their four-yearly inspections.
6.14 Peer review visits will be undertaken by multi-disciplinary teams with membership extending beyond the health authority and PCT. The panel will include relevant clinicians to facilitate peer support and development. The first round of peer review visits will begin in 2001.
6.15 To ensure consistency, new national cancer standards, drawn from the NICE cancer guidance and the Calman/ Hine Report will be published in autumn 2000. All Regional Offices have been asked to establish Regional Cancer Steering Groups which will oversee the peer review process.
6.16 Performance indicators are also being introduced to measure the outcomes that will be achieved as a result of the national cancer standards and these will be integrated into the national set of performance indicators. NHS trusts will use these standards and indicators as part of their clinical governance arrangements.
