Acute Diagnostics and Treatment
In our Acute Diagnostics and Treatment Programme we focus on improving secondary care cancer pathways, so that patients in our area can receive faster diagnoses, timely treatment, and consistently high-quality care.
Our team provides operational expertise, project management and leadership to help local hospital trusts to redesign the steps a patient goes through for cancer diagnosis and treatment, avoid delays and embed innovation. This approach aims to meet our ongoing commitment to high standards and sustainability by transforming hospital-based cancer care.
This programme is the driving force behind improvements in cancer waiting times in North Central London. By combining operational expertise, clinical collaboration and patient voice, we are building faster, fairer and more effective pathways — ensuring every patient receives the right diagnosis and treatment, at the right time.
How we work
We combine hands-on operational support with the power of clinical collaboration.
Clinical networks
Our tumour-specific networks bring together clinicians, operational leads and patient representatives. These forums support pathway redesign, share best practice, and ensure consistent standards of care across the system. Local experienced clinicians hold part-time roles (typically half day per week) as clinical network directors to lead this activity.
Expert Reference Groups
Expert Reference Groups (ERGs) focus on specialist areas, driving improvement across the entire patient journey – from primary care through to treatment and personalised care. They identify risks and opportunities, promote research and innovation, and ensure that both staff and patient voices shape pathway change.
Clinical Forum
Chaired by our two co-clinical directors, these meetings provide cross-cutting leadership and oversight. They escalate system-wide risks, align ERG workplans, and ensure that improvements are embedded across all trusts in line with NHS England and Integrated Care Board priorities.
These structures mean that this work programme can move from pathway insight to sustained change with speed and at scale.
What are we doing
We are supporting hospitals to deliver national cancer priorities and local improvement projects:
National deliverables
- Best Practice Timed Pathways (standardised, evidence-based diagnostic and treatment pathways)
- Non-specific symptoms pathways for earlier cancer detection
- Innovative diagnostics, such as teledermatology for identifying or ruling out skin cancer
- Faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) for investigating bowel problems which may be a sign of bowel cancer
- Tackling treatment variation as part of our work to ensure equitable access to the best available care
Local projects
- Improving the pathway for discharging patients following an endoscopy.
- Prostate cancer pathway optimisation
- Redesigning improvement projects based on local population needs and hospital priorities, e.g. head and neck cancer referrals
Our approach is evidence-driven: we use detailed analysis to identify where patients experience delays. Then we work side by side with hospital teams to deliver meaningful and lasting improvements.