What is the positive change that has emerged through new collaborations or partnerships during Covid-19 that your project is going to embed?

The project has been patient lead working in partnership with Professionals from the outset  that will reinforce and embed relationships across Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside between Northumbria Cancer Patient and Carer Group (NCPCG) and health, public and third sector professionals who work in cancer care and support in the area.  Relationships have been considerably strengthened during Covid19 after the findings of a survey carried out by NCPCG were disseminated and discussed at numerous virtual forums, networks, committees and communities of interest. The report stated that more clear and specific information was required for cancer patients to make decisions about their options for care. New working collaborations have arisen between NCPCG and three local cancer charities; third sector infrastructure organisations; public sector funded Locality Coordinators; Northumberland and North Tyneside CCGs and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in addition to two major National charities and the NHS National Cancer Patient Forum.

What does your project aim to achieve?

This project will ensure that comprehensive, accessible information for cancer care and support in the North of Tyne Combined Authority/ ICP area is available 24/7 on a well-publicised web page which will be the ‘go to’ place for both professionals and members of the public. Currently the information is sporadic across locations and sectors and based on tacit experience.  This project will collate all of this existing knowledge in one place and share it through an explicit library of up to date information. The area has many health inequalities through geographical and social economic barriers and needs to offer ‘hard to reach’ cancer patients this information equally.  Through the promotion of this webpage, everyone can access this information directly or with the support of others, ensuring accessibility for all. The webpage will be embedded into working practice across all organisations and maintained with currency, beyond the project lifetime.

How will the project be delivered?

The project will be delivered through a well-managed project group, meeting monthly to ensure all deliverable tasks, outcomes and impacts are recorded and completed to planned timescales. NCPCG will oversee this work with Q members actively delivering the results. The information currently exists and needs a team with the right skills for collation, filtering and presenting core information in plain English and with the right taxonomy for easy referencing. The first three months of this project will focus on gathering the right information from many tacit sources, before ‘pooling’ it into one location.  The project will then focus on the grouping, segmentation and presentation of the data onto a web based platform – with the ability for continuous update to ensure currency. The last three months of the project will be refining this process and ensuring communication and understanding of the resource to a wide audience across the region.

How is your project going to share learning?

This project builds on the learning from a previous survey and delivers against the identified need of local patients and professionals for a source of cancer specific information. The project will have a parallel work stream of recording the findings whilst the tasks and objectives are being delivered. This will be shared monthly with the project management team (NCPCG, Northumberland CCG and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) who will then disseminate these findings through a published report. The Trust has confirmed support from the Patient Experience team and the Innovation and Development Teams to work on the project. This report will be shared at an area level (NOT/ICP); a regional level with the ICS, NECS, VSCE and public sector networks; and a national level through the Q Exchange and the NHS National Cancer Patient Forum.