It’s been a busy quarter with six new hospitals achieving CSEP accreditation and two hospitals gaining reaccreditation.

Rotherham General Hospital, Antrim Area Hospital, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, Wrexham Maelor Hospital, North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre, and Ormskirk Hospital have achieved first-time accreditation, whilst St George’s Hospital and Nottingham University Hospital demonstrated their ongoing commitment to outstanding myeloma care, achieving reaccreditation. This brings our total number of accredited UK hospitals to 68, with representation across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

If you would like to join the ranks of these outstanding myeloma centres – and many more across the UK – email the team at CSEP@myeloma.org.uk

Rotherham General Hospital

We were very impressed with the ‘traffic light’ referral system that Rotherham General Hospital co-developed with local GPs. This has reduced the length of time to assessment, diagnosis and treatment. Patients also benefit from an established at home chemotherapy service, allowing them to have daratumumab and bortezomib treatment at home, with a hope to expanding the service to include biphosphonate treatment soon. This reduces the need for patients to travel into hospital for treatment and patient feedback surveys have been very positive. e need for patients to travel into hospital for treatments.

Antrim Area Hospital

We were delighted to present Antrim Area Hospital with their CSEP plaque – they are our second accredited hospital in Northern Ireland. One of the many highlights of their service is their management of late and long-term effects of myeloma and its treatment. They developed a screening and management checklist to ensure patients receive care as recommended by the British Society for Haematology (BSH) guidance. Another area of excellence is their extensive laboratory-based research programme.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust

A clear highlight of this service, which incorporates Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital, is outstanding recruitment to national myeloma clinical trials. The Cancer Clinical Trials team were in the top three recruiters nationally for the Myeloma XV (RADAR) and Myeloma XIV (FiTNEss) trials and in the top five for data quality. The myeloma team also demonstrated their commitment to supporting GPs by holding education masterclasses for primary care. eam and research nurses.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital

Another hospital impressing us with their commitment to clinical trials is Wrexham Maelor Hospital, which is part of the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. Proactive input from their research nurse has helped triple the number of trials open to myeloma patients. Another impressive feature is the level of psychological support available to patients. This ranges from telephone counselling to appointments with a clinical psychologist, according to the patient’s need.

North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre (Ysbyty Glan Clwyd)

Also part of the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd demonstrated overall excellence. For clinical trial recruitment they were one of the top recruiters in the Myeloma XIV (FiTNEss) trial over the last two years. Ysbyty Glan Clwyd also showed their commitment to educating patients living with myeloma with local information in the day unit and clinical trial information also translated into Welsh, which is the first language of many local patients.

Ormskirk Hospital

The CSEP team were particularly impressed by the variety of ways in which the team at Ormskirk Hospital use patient feedback to make improvements to the service and enhance patient experience. One of these is close communication and collaboration with the local myeloma support group. There is also excellent palliative and end of life care provision for myeloma patients treated at Ormskirk Hospital. By proactively managing the transition to end-of-life care, patients are referred for palliative care services in a timely manner.

St George’s Hospital

Demonstrating their ongoing commitment to excellence at this reaccreditation, St George’s Hospital continue to develop their well-established links with the on-site cardiology and spinal teams. One of the cardiologists meets with the myeloma team at the quarterly heart failure multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting to discuss patients. The spinal MDT is regularly attended by the myeloma consultants to support proactive and timely management of patients who require specialist intervention. Another clear highlight of the service at St George’s Hospital are its GP education days, focusing on the impact of delayed diagnosis and management of MGUS.

Nottingham University Hospital – City Campus

During Nottingham University Hospital’s reaccreditation, we were particularly impressed with the introduction of a new MDT clinic where patients are seen by the CNS or pharmacist for review and treatment prescription. This has taken pressure off the myeloma clinic, reducing waiting times and strengthening the MDT approach to care. The hospital also has a chemotherapy outreach service which receives excellent feedback from patients and has recently expanded to provide more treatments at home.

Conclusion

The Clinical Service Excellence Programme (CSEP) was established in 2015 to support hospitals in delivering patient-focused myeloma treatment and care, benchmarked against best practice standards. CSEP enables hospitals to recognise and celebrate their achievements, identify key areas for development, and share best practice initiatives.