About The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre

As one of the leading cancer centres in the UK, with a track record of developing new and better ways of treating cancer, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre contributes to improved outcomes for patients with cancer in Cheshire and Merseyside.

We operate a networked model of care, with services for non-surgical oncology spread across the different ‘sectors’ of the region that we serve.

CCC-Liverpool is our new specialist centre and the location of our inpatient beds. It is also the hub for the central sector of the region.

CCC-Wirral is the hub for our southern sector and CCC-Aintree is the hub for the north. (CCC means Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
e.g. Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.)

Cancer in our region

It is estimated that one in two people will develop cancer at some point in their lives.

More than 360,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year. By 2022 it is projected that this figure will reach 422,000.

Despite advances in treatment, cancer remains one of the top five causes of early death in England. It is the highest cause of death in Liverpool, accounting for 37% of all deaths in the region.

Two parts of our region, Liverpool and Knowsley, are in the five most deprived areas of England and a further three parts of our region are in the most deprived 20%.

The region currently has considerably higher mortality rate from some cancers compared to England as a whole.

Some areas in Liverpool have the highest rate of presentations through emergency routes and it is well recognised that such patients have the poorest outcomes.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out two key ambitions for cancer:

  • By 2028 The proportion of cancers diagnosed at stage one and two will rise from just over half now to three quarters of cancer patients
  • By 2028 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis

The next five years

Having delivered our last five-year strategic plan, opening CCC-Liverpool and embedding our unique networked model of care, our attention for the next five years needs to be on maximising the benefits of these developments for patient outcomes and experience.

To this end we have developed a new statement of our mission for the next five years.

We will:

Drive improved outcomes and experience through our unique network of specialist cancer care across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Our values:

New values that support our mission and priorities to be developed with staff in Year 1.

Our strategic priorities and key outcomes

To deliver this mission we have developed our plans to address six strategic priorities:

Be Outstanding

  • Deliver safe, high-quality care and outstanding operational and financial performance
  • Outstanding CQC rating
  • Top decile NCPES survey

Be Collaborative

  • Drive better outcomes for cancer patients, working with our partners across our unique network of care
  • Improved 5-year survival
  • Increased early diagnosis

Be a Great Place to Work

  • Attract, develop and retain a highly-skilled, motivated and inclusive workforce to deliver the best care
  • Top decile staff survey
  • Teaching hospital status

Be Research Leaders

  • Be leaders in cancer research to improve outcomes for patients now and in the future
  • Retain ECMC status
  • Gain CRUK centre status

Be Digital

  • Deliver digitally-transformed services, empowering patients and staff
  • Develop a digital strategy
  • Achieve HIMSS level 7

Be Innovative

  • Be enterprising and innovative, exploring opportunities that improve or support patient care
  • Develop and implement an
  • innovation strategy

Be Outstanding

Deliver safe, high-quality care and outstanding operational and financial performance

We are renowned for our highquality care. We consistently achieve excellent outcomes in patient experience and safety, external regulatory inspections and research quality. High-quality care for all will continue to be a guiding principle in the next five years.

Delivering an excellent patient experience is at the core of what we do. We will continue to strive for the best patient experience. As a measure of this we will aim to achieve top-decile performance in key national patient experience surveys.

We will maintain our good rating from the Care Quality Commission while striving for an outstanding rating.

We have been investing in the development of high-quality patient and staff environments for over a decade. The redevelopment of CCC-Wirral will be the focus of the next five years.

Our operational plans for the next five years will focus on a number of key areas:

  • We will maximise the benefits of opening CCC-Liverpool, making sure that services are working well together.
  • We will further develop our services, including fully opening our teenage and young adult (TYA) unit and developing our interventional radiology service in CCC-Liverpool.
  • We will continue to embed our network of services across Cheshire and Merseyside, including working with our partners on the development of the hub for the eastern sector of our region.
  • We will work with our partners to improve urgent and unplanned cancer care in the region.
  • We will maintain our good performance against operational targets for cancer care.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Outstanding Care Quality commission rating
  • Top-decile National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results
  • Performance against cancer waiting times
  • Redevelopment of CCC-Wirral
  • Financial sustainability and ability to invest in services

Be Collaborative

Drive better outcomes for cancer patients, working with our partners across our unique network of care

During 2020 we opened CCC-Liverpool on a site next to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Over the next five years we will take the opportunity that this presents to raise the profile of the Trust and consolidate our leadership role for cancer across the region.

We will work with a range of partners from across the Cheshire and Merseyside system and beyond to deliver our shared plans for the benefit of our patients and population.

Over the next five years we will work as part of the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance to build on its success so far. We will seek to extend our influence beyond the specialist part of the cancer pathway to contribute towards prevention, public awareness and cancer diagnosis.

Through our active involvement in the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance we will be at the heart of enabling a whole pathway approach for cancer for the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership.

We will play an active role in the partnership as it continues to develop.

Radiotherapy operational delivery networks support partnership working across radiotherapy providers. As part of the North West Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Network we will play a full role in the
development of radiotherapy in our region over the coming years.

Increased genomic testing has the potential to deliver tailored treatments to patients. We will work with our partners and the North West Genomics Service to ensure molecular diagnostic testing is available and access to molecular testing is embedded into pathways.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Improved 5-year survival
  • Increased early diagnosis
  • System-wide cancer waiting times performance
  • Progress against radiotherapy operational delivery network plan
  • Increased involvement in diagnostics through rapid diagnostic centres

Be a Great Place to Work

Attract, develop and retain a highly-skilled, motivated and inclusive workforce to deliver the best care

We recognise that our people are our greatest asset. Their dedication, talent, knowledge and experience are at the heart of everything we do and have a big impact on the care that we provide.

We want to attract, retain and develop the brightest and best people locally, nationally and internationally, through our reputation for excellence in patient care, research and education, and our commitment to the health, wellbeing and experience of staff.

We believe that there are a number of areas for priority action over the next five years that will support us to build successful teams and continue to be a great place to work:

  • We will enhance leadership skills and capacity across all levels of the Trust.
  • We will recruit the brightest and the best academic and clinical people, with an emphasis on the harder-to-recruit groups such as oncologists, specialist nurses and radiologists.
  • We will continue to develop new roles and new career pathways that support the sustainable provision of services.
  • We will provide a comprehensive reward and recognition package to retain and develop a highly-skilled and flexible workforce.
  • We will foster an open, transparent and high-performing culture, where staff feel valued and recognised for the important contribution and feel empowered to raise concerns.
  • We will promote and maintain the physical and psychological wellbeing of our workforce as part of continuing to be an employer of choice.
  • Through our excellence and expertise in education and training, we will continue to achieve excellence in patient care, service delivery and cutting-edge research across the region.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Top-decile national staff survey results
  • Performance against key workforce metrics
  • Performance in equality and inclusion metrics
  • Refreshed values and behaviours
  • High rates of performance appraisal and development reviews
  • Achievement of teaching hospital status

Be Research Leaders

Be leaders in cancer research to improve outcomes for patients now and in the future

We undertake research into new cancer therapies through our academic partnership with the University of Liverpool. With more than 300 active clinical trials and 1,200 patients a year entering studies we ensure that as many patients as possible get access to the very latest treatments.

The opening of the new flagship state-of-the-art hospital in the heart of the Knowledge Quarter in Liverpool provides a unique opportunity to refresh and expand our programme of cancer research.

Securing Experimental Cancer Medicines Centre (ECMC) status in partnership with the University of Liverpool has been a major achievement and has enhanced trial availability and recruitment.
We will submit our renewal bid for the ECMC in the next year and, if successful, this will run from 2022 through to 2027.

We will increase the number of academic staff within the Trust during the next five years with the aim of securing a future Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and CRUK centre status.

In addition, as the sole provider of radiotherapy in the region we need to increase research in advanced radiotherapy techniques.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Recruitment to clinical academic positions
  • Increased trial recruitment and increase in CCC-led trials
  • Increased commercial and grant income
  • Increase in health services research
  • Retain Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre status and gain CRUK centre status

Be Digital

Deliver digitally-transformed services, empowering patients and staff

Our digital vision is to transform the experience of our patients, our people and the population we serve, ensuring that technology is a viable alternative to traditional ways of working.

We will use the internationally recognised maturity model developed by HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) to measure the maturity of our healthcare systems.

Our aim is to be one of the first NHS organisation to reach stage 7, the highest level, fully harnessing digital technology to support patient care.

We are introducing key technologies to support patients. The introduction of video conferencing and other new technologies in the future will support patient choice, keep individuals connected with health professionals and support the delivery of care closer to home.

Our ambition is to give patients access to their records and access to assistive technology, including remote monitoring, that will support their care.

Technology also plays a central role in helping clinicians use the full range of their skills, reducing bureaucracy and enabling service transformation, providing more time to care.

In the next five years we will work to free up clinical time through improved digital interoperability. We will establish a true business intelligence function, turning data into intelligence that helps us improve our services for the benefit of our patients and staff.

We will also continue to ensure that patient information is held safely and securely in the face of the ever-changing threat of cyber-attacks.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Develop and implement a digital strategy
  • Achieve Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society level 7 status
  • Establish a true business intelligence function
  • Completion of the refresh of digital infrastructure
  • Secure Cyber Essentials Plus certification

Be Innovative

Be enterprising and innovative, exploring opportunities that improve or support patient care

As a specialist provider we have a responsibility to innovate and ensure that we can act as a test bed of best practice for the NHS. We also need to make the most of the opportunity provided by the opening of our new specialist hospital in the heart of Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter.

Over the next five years we will continue to be innovative and enterprising where this supports patient care and our financial sustainability.

There is excellence in innovation around the Trust. We want to build on this foundation to develop and grow the capacity and capability of our current and future workforce to embrace and actively engage with
innovation.

In so doing we want to create an innovative culture, harnessing talent and supporting the development of innovation champions across the Trust.

Over the next five years we will improve and enhance patient care through innovation in practice and empowering staff to lead change. We have a history of developing innovative treatments and designing new models of care and we will continue to develop these over
the next five years.

At The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre we have two wholly-owned subsidiaries (PharmaC and PropCare) and a joint venture (Clatterbridge Private Clinic). We will continue to develop and grow these innovative
ventures over the next five years to support the cancer care that we deliver to the population of Cheshire and Merseyside and beyond.

How we will know if we are successful:

  • Develop and implement an innovation strategy
  • Establishment of an Innovation Fund to support new ideas
  • Continued growth of our innovative subsidiaries
  • Development of an innovation bunker as a space to support cutting-edge innovation

Thank you for reading this summary of our Five-Year Strategic Plan 2021-2025.