Secondary Care - Northern Cancer Alliance Northern Cancer Alliance

Welcome to the Secondary Care Professionals Area

Our work with secondary care focuses on improving cancer outcomes by supporting clinicians and healthcare teams to deliver safe, effective, and personalised care.

We aim to strengthen pathways, enhance patient experience, and embed best practice across hospital-based services. This includes implementing stratified follow-up models, promoting holistic needs assessments, and ensuring timely access to diagnostics and treatment.

This section provides practical resources and guidance to support professionals in secondary care. You’ll find tools to help integrate personalised care approaches, stay informed about the latest developments, and collaborate across the system to achieve consistent, high-quality standards.

Together, we can ensure every patient receives compassionate, evidence-based care throughout their cancer journey.

Best practice timed pathways

To help meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, NHS England have developed Best Practice Timed Pathways (BPTPs). These are detailed guides that outline the ideal sequence and timing of tests, appointments, and treatments. Working with Trusts to implement these BPTPs in the most appropriate and effective way is a priority for the NHS cancer programme and will […]

Tumour and pathway groups

Across the Northern Cancer Alliance, we have several tumour specific pathway groups which bring together multidisciplinary specialists from across the cancer pathway. These specialists can include diagnostics, treatment, and supportive care, working collaboratively to reduce unwarranted variation in treatment, improve quality and outcomes, and ensure equitable access to high-quality care across the North East and […]

Living with and beyond cancer

The delivery of personalised care for cancer includes a combination of different interventions, which when delivered together, can greatly improve the outcomes and coordination of care, including better and earlier identification of consequences of treatment. The interventions have been developed to assist people living with a diagnosis of cancer to identify their individual needs and […]

Patient experience surveys

By gathering and reviewing the results of patient surveys, we gain valuable insights into the needs of our population across North East & North Cumbria. This evidence helps shape how we plan, develop, and transform cancer services – ensuring they are responsive, inclusive, and centred around what matters most to patients. We use patient surveys […]