Background Cancer Care coordination is one of a range of roles that is recommended to ensure holistic patient care and improved access to services (NHS England and Improvement. 2020). In a collaboration, St Giles Hospice is working with Sutton Coldfield Group Practice (SCGP) Primary Care Network (PCN) to provide a cancer care coordinator to enable coordination and navigation of care and support across health and care services (NHS England and Improvement. 2021).

Aim To embed a cancer coordinator within a PCN network and improve patients’ access to care and health services through coordination and navigation.

Method The cancer care coordinator will alleviate pressures on GPs by picking up duties that free up clinical time. This might include chasing up referrals, proactively signposting to relevant local services, answering queries from patients and their carers, organising and facilitating GSF meetings.

This dedicated resource would provide patients with the time for conversations around their diagnosis and treatment and would support advance care planning discussions. The cancer care coordinator would work closely with other health and social care services and professionals, creating a network that is able to support patients in a number of ways including organisation of GSF meetings and review of cancer screening engagement and barriers. In addition the cancer care coordinator will be key in navigating a path for patients who are no longer curable but imminently end of life.

Results Results that will be evaluated as part of this collaboration include:

• Increased participation in Gold Standards Framework (GSF) meetings.

• Increase in patients accessing cancer screening.

• Improved patient outcomes and quality of life.

Conclusion This innovative new role will improve patient navigation through a complex health and social care system thus improving patient outcomes and releasing time to care.