Our Patient Access Policy helps to ensure that all patients are treated fairly and equally. The policy sets out how the Trust manages referrals, waiting times for treatment, admissions and bed availability on a day-to-day basis.
Patient eligibility and referral criteria
Cambridge University Hospital is a provider of specialist cancer services and receives referrals from GPs, consultants and other hospitals when patients need specialist care.
This means that other hospitals may be involved in your care at different points during your treatment plan. For example, you may be referred to your local hospital for tests, receive care at Cambridge University Hospital for specific parts of your treatment plan, and then have your follow-up care at your local hospital or with your GP.
Sometimes if you become unwell during your treatment you may be admitted to your local hospital because it is either too far to travel Cambridge University Hospital, because you need the care of a non-cancer specialist hospital or because your symptom can be managed by the local hospital with support from your specialist team.
Referrals and transfer of care requests are reviewed by the clinical team and are accepted if the Trust can offer additional treatment options or something materially different to the existing care management plan.
Why might we not accept an NHS referral or transfer of care request?
- Your GP or Trust is outside our standard referral area.
- Cambridge University Hospital cannot offer anything materially different to your local cancer centre (for example, a clinical trial).
- You could be treated closer to home, at your local hospital.
How do we manage second opinion requests?
Due to the high number of second opinion requests Cambridge University Hospital receives, we are not able to accept all referrals for a second opinion. To avoid delays, for all NHS second opinion requests, please aim to keep the referral information to a maximum of 10 pages, which should include the following information:
- Referral letter
- Last hospital letter from local oncologist, surgeon or other specialist
- Relevant scan reports
- Histopathology report
Where the referral is accepted, a clinician will review the request and
- will provide a written second opinion for the referring doctor, or
- offer a virtual or face to face consultation to assess whether Cambridge University Hospital can offer a different or specialist treatment, or entry into a clinical trial.
Patient choice
As a provider of specialist services, Cambridge University Hospital accepts referrals from a network referral area (set list of hospitals and geographical areas), which varies depending on the type of cancer the patient may have. The Trust will also accept referrals from outside this network if we can offer a materially different treatment, such as a clinical trial.
We operate under the NHS constitution which outlines that cancer care is not subject to the standard patient choice legislation. This means that the Trust does not accept diagnostic or treatment referrals for patients outside the network/standard referral area unless we can offer a materially different treatment.
Waiting times and attending appointments
Our access policy also sets out how the Trust manages waiting times for accepted referrals.
All patients have the right to start NHS consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks from referral. If you are referred to Cambridge University Hospital because your GP suspects you have cancer we aim to have completed the diagnostic stage of the pathway within 28 days.
If cancer is confirmed:
- we aim to start treatment within 62 days of referral if it is your first treatment or 31 days after you have made the decision with your consultant to start treatment, whichever is sooner;
- in some cases it will be clinically appropriate to wait longer or you may choose to wait longer.
Attending appointments
It is very important that you are available during this time for tests and consultations so your treatment can be started as soon as possible. To ensure we can provide timely access for all our patients to the hospital’s services it is also important you attend scheduled appointments and let the hospital know if you can no longer make an appointment.
Patients who do not attend two or more appointments with the hospital without cancelling or rearranging in advance may have their care transferred back to their GP. Patients who cancel multiple appointments may also be referred back to their GP, following review of the case with the clinical team and discussion with the patient regarding the importance of attending appointments.