'We're working hard to reduce the time patients wait': Shropshire nursing boss on how teams have improved cancer performance at the trust
Read the latest Shropshire Star column from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust nursing chief Paula Gardner.
Last week, we supported World Cancer Day which raises awareness of cancer and encourages its prevention, detection and treatment.
Waiting for a diagnosis, or to have cancer ruled out, is an incredibly worrying and anxious time for patients and their loved ones, and our trust and the rest of the healthcare system are working hard to reduce the time patients wait.
There was positive news last week, as the trust has significantly improved its performance for diagnosing or ruling out suspected cancer within four weeks - meaning patients are experiencing shorter waits.
The latest figures show that nearly 86 per cent of patients with suspected cancer referred to the trust received a diagnosis or had it ruled out within 28 days. The national 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) performance target is 80 per cent.
We are now the second, best performing trust in the country for the 28-day FDS after being the bottom-placed trust a year ago (119/119 in February 2025).
To achieve this, we rolled out a phased improvement plan with the first phase focused on increasing and sustaining the 28-day FDS performance.
Among the improvements made were reducing the time from referral to first outpatient appointment, and timely access to diagnostics – tests and scans such as CT, MRI and Non-Obstetric Ultrasound (NOUS) – with the time from initial cancer diagnostic request to the scan taking place and results being reported back being typically under 10 days now, critical to early cancer diagnosis.
There is still more for us to do, but we are proud of our teams who have worked so hard to improve our 28-day FDS and reduce waits for patients.
The next phase of our improvement programme is to reduce the time it takes to start treatment following a cancer diagnosis and then sustain this.
We are also supporting the Sunflower Appeal launched by Lingen Davies Cancer Support.
The appeal aims to raise £5 million to bring a dedicated cancer treatment centre to Princess Royal Hospital which will provide the space to double the capacity of chemotherapy provision in the region.
To show their support on World Cancer Day and the appeal, colleagues wore an item of yellow clothing. If you are able to help too, donations can be made to the Sunflower Appeal through the link: https://lingendavies.enthuse.com/worldcancerday#!/
From Monday (February 16), the cost of using the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) Park & Ride will see a rise to £2 per journey for patients and visitors.
The park-and-ride was introduced just over a year ago for patients and visitors, and since then, the service has averaged 600 journeys a week.
We have taken the decision to increase the park-and-ride charge to ensure the service remains sustainable while allowing the trust to continue prioritising investment in frontline patient care.
Thank you to those who continue to support the service to help ease parking pressure on our hospital site.
The service runs from Oxon Park & Ride to the Treatment Centre entrance every 15-20 mins, from 6.20am-9.25pm.
You can find more information and the full timetable on our website: https://ow.ly/yAb950Y3LoZ.
