Improving healthcare transition for young people with cancer: factors fundamental to the quality improvement journey.

Abstract

Young people receiving cancer treatment in the South Thames Children's, Teenagers' and Young Adults' Cancer Operational Delivery Network usually receive care across two or more NHS trusts, meaning transition into adult services can be challenging. To develop a planned, co-ordinated approach to transition across the network that meets National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommendations for transition and the cancer service specifications. A 2-year, nurse-led quality improvement (QI) project, using the principles of experience-based co-design. The QI project resulted in the development of six key principles of practice; refining and testing of a benchmarking tool; initiatives to facilitate first transition conversations; and the launch of an information hub. Robust QI processes, cross-network collaboration and wide stakeholder involvement required significant resource, but enabled deeper understanding of existing pathways and processes, facilitated the establishment of meaningful objectives, and enabled the testing of interventions to ensure the project outcomes met the needs of all stakeholders.