Acute and Supportive Oncology Clinical Consensus Statement
BOPA welcomes the Acute and Supportive Oncology Clinical Consensus Statement, to which we were pleased to contribute. It will be a benchmark for the sector, bringing direction and consistency as cancer care moves closer to home. It comes at an opportune moment, with recent figures predicting 5.5m patients living with cancer in the UK by 2045.
Community pharmacy is ready to help deliver this vision. As pharmacist assessment and prescribing expand, trained pharmacy teams can manage acute and chronic problems for cancer patients in primary care. That spares patients long waits in A&E or a weekend of worsening symptoms. They can recognise treatment toxicities early, direct patients to acute oncology triage, and support people during and after treatment, including optimising medicines for the many living with cancer alongside other long-term conditions.
BOPA members are already showing what is possible across all touchpoints in the community and primary care cancer pathway, from early detection, through management to long-term survivorship: pharmacist-led urgent suspected cancer referrals across Cornwall, the CloseHER2 Home study of subcutaneous trastuzumab given in community pharmacies in Scotland, and BOPA’s call for capsule sponge testing to be offered in community pharmacies. Our free Let’s Communicate Cancer programme, referenced in the National Cancer Plan, gives community and primary care teams the confidence to act.
With access to treatment information and clear referral routes, pharmacy can be a true “front door” to acute and supportive oncology.
We are particularly pleased to see BOPA’s contribution reflected in the statement, helping ensure the expertise and perspective of cancer pharmacy is represented in shaping the future of acute and supportive cancer care. You can read the full Acute and Supportive Oncology Clinical Consensus Statement here.
John Ashton-Barnett (Community And Primary Care Pharmacy (CPCP) Subcommittee)
