MORE than nine in ten cancer patients in Jersey start treatment within a month of being referred, according to new figures – but data on the Island’s five-year survival rates is still lacking.
Data released by the Island’s oncology department following a freedom-of-information request revealed that 40.2% of patients receive systemic anti-cancer therapy within two weeks of the decision to treat, and 31.8% start treatment within seven days.
Only 3.74% are recorded as starting after 31 days, with reasons for this cited as including “patient choice and delays in port insertion”.
The freedom-of-information request also asked for the percentage of Islanders who receive treatment for cancer within 62 days of the first referral. In the UK, an estimated 70% of patients start their treatment within 62 days of referral – falling short of the targeted 85%.
But Jersey’s Health Department is not yet able to accurately report the number of patients who start treatment within 62 days of an urgent GP referral as diagnosis and treatment dates “cannot be directly reported from central record systems”.
The department is “hopeful this [data] will become available later this half of the year” following the full implementation of the “upgraded Somerset Cancer Registry”.
But current internal oncology department data – although not sourced from a single centralised dataset – has Jersey considerably ahead of the UK on referral-to-treatment within the 62-day framework.
Oncology consultant Dr Elizabet Gomes Dos Santos told the JEP the internal data is “very positive”.
“The expansion of the consultant oncology workforce this year has strengthened service capacity and reduced reliance on locums, which will continue to improve continuity of care,” she explained.
The freedom-of-information request also asked for data on the five-year survival rate for cancer in Jersey. Latest data in the UK puts five-year survival at 60%, behind other developed countries such as Romania and Poland.
But data for five-year survival rates “is not currently available” in Jersey.
“The Channel Islands Cancer Report provides data for incidence and mortality, but does not include survival outcomes,” the response said.
Dr Gomes Dos Santos added that survival analysis is currently difficult because patient data is spread across different systems, but said this should improve once the upgraded Somerset Cancer Registry and other digital systems are fully implemented.
The response also confirmed that Jersey currently has nine radiologists, with another due to join, and an oncology team of four full-time consultants supported by a part-time consultant shared with Cambridge.
Cancer treatment in Jersey is currently delivered by both medical oncologists, who provide systemic anti-cancer therapies, and clinical oncologists, who provide both systemic anti-cancer therapies and radiotherapy.
All radiotherapy treatment is delivered outside of the Island due to the lack of a local radiotherapy service.
Dr Gomes Dos Santos said that “a major priority” is “improving earlier cancer diagnosis”, which is known to have a “significant impact on both survival outcomes and quality of life”.
“Earlier-stage cancers are more treatable, require less intensive therapy, and are associated with better long-term outcomes,” she said.
She added that said work is underway across screening services, public health, primary care and the hospital to strengthen early cancer detection and improve patient outcomes.
Dr Gomes Dos Santos said the “potential for AI in this space is extremely exciting”, adding that with high-quality shared datasets it could support earlier detection, better triage and faster decision-making.
But she added that “robust, interoperable data-sharing” across the system will be key to unlocking these benefits.
