Systemic anti-cancer therapy

At GenesisCare, our medical oncology centres offer all available types of systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACTs). Our oncologists, nursing and pharmacy teams work closely together to ensure our patients have access to the latest treatments, safely and effectively.

Few private oncology providers offer such an extensive and professionally managed SACTs service offering a comprehensive range of:

• Immunotherapy
• Targeted therapies
• Hormone therapies
• Chemotherapy
• Monoclonal antibodies

Expert teams

We have specialist cancer nurses and dedicated pharmacy teams.

• UKONS SACT competency passport
• Additional nursing qualifications, such as central venous access
• 1-1 nursing with extensive experience in oncology care settings, including leading teaching hospitals
• All medical oncology centres have experienced oncology and haematology pharmacists

Latest technologies

We use the latest technologies to improve efficiency and patient safety in SACT delivery.

• Plum 360™ smart infusion pumps
• ICU Medical MedNet ™ medicines safety platform
• iQemo prescribing platform
• Genetic and genomic testing

Our medical oncology centres

• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Milton Keynes
• Maidstone
• Oxford
• Windsor

All of these centres carry the Macmillan Quality Environment Mark (MQEM). Patients are treated in dedicated chemotherapy suites, with access to a 24/7 on-call service for emergency admissions.

Integrative cancer care

We embed integrative cancer care into our pathways to support patients throughout their treatment and beyond.

• Exercise medicine
• Penny Brohn UK partnership

Specialist cancer nurses

Our cancer nurses are specialists in providing systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACTs), with extensive training and experience at leading cancer centres. They have the most up-to-date knowledge of the many types of cancer treatment, including how to administer them and manage side effects.

• The Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) competency passport, a programme run by the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONs), showing that our nurses have the competence and knowledge to work in the most advanced SACTs centres.
• Specialist training to ensure careful and accurate placement of cannulas and central venous access devices.
• Active in addressing any patient concerns or symptoms, recognising problems quickly and referring to immediate care when needed.
• Highly experienced with in-clinic procedures such as blood tests, blood transfusions, monitoring and assessing side effects.
• Each nurse also has special training in connecting with and supporting people going through a life-changing experience like cancer.

Dedicated pharmacy teams

Our pharmacy teams in each centre are led by experienced oncology/haematology pharmacists that specialise in the wide range of systemic cancer treatment available. They are available onsite to provide expert pharmaceutical information’s to patients, consultants, and the nursing team.

Our team are members of British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) and complete the BOPA verification SACT Passport for pharmacy.

They ensure safe procurement of SACTs and that all pharmaceutical regulations are adhered to at all times, while ensuring safe prescribing of SACT medicines.

Our lead chemotherapy nurses

Our patients are under the dedicated care of GenesisCare's expert lead chemotherapy nurses, they get to know their needs, concerns and preferences, and tailor care around them.

Patients often say how important this relationship has been to them during their care with us. 

Meet our lead chemotherapy nurses below.

We use the latest technologies to improve efficiency and patient safety in SACT delivery.

• Plum 360 Smart Infusion System (from ICU Medical)
• ICU Medical MedNet medicines safety software (from ICU Medical) with a full drug library created by GenesisCare utilizing the software
• iQemo electronic chemotherapy prescribing system (from iQHealthTech)

With a three-way partnership between GenesisCare, ICU Medical and iQHealthTech, we have been able to implement Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA). This ground-breaking innovation allows our chemotherapy nurses to:

• Identify the patient using a barcoded patient ID wristband
• Associate the infusion pump to the patients iQemo prescription
• Check and capture the medication details via a barcoded label

These features greatly improve safety and give a complete and detailed administration record by sending all details, including start and stop times, to the patient’s record in iQemo.

BCMA verification reduces the possibility of a potential error and will improve efficiency of medication delivery. Patient safety is extremely important to GenesisCare and we will do whatever we can to ensure the safe provision and administration of chemotherapy medicines.

- Titilayo Alagbe, GenesisCare Head of Pharmacy

The key benefits of these technologies working together means:

• Greater patient safety
• Reduced chair time for patients
• Greater workflow and operational efficiencies such as reduced nursing time in documenting administration details
• Improved data quality
• Reduced costs of consumables
• Reduced drug wastage
• Reduced risk of vein pain on drug delivery for patients

To know that extra safety measures are in place to prevent human error from occurring makes me feel very safe.

- Patient at GenesisCare

We also utilise the latest cooling technology to help ease our patient’s side effects, including:

We're proud to be the provider in the UK to offer this treatment to improve our patients' outcome.

Hilotherm ChemoCare is a cooling therapy used to prevent and manage chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and hand-foot syndrome (HFS). A device fitted with specialised hand and foot cuffs are worn simultaneously during chemotherapy. The cuffs constantly cool patient’s hands and feet, and is administered between 15-17°C. 

Unless a patient is showing signs of CIPN or HFS, cooling will be for 30 minutes prior, during and 30 minutes following treatment. If a patient has signs of CIPN, the time after chemotherapy will increase to 60 minutes.

Cooling the hands and feet to 15-17°C causes vasoconstriction and locally reduces blood flow to the area. This reduces the amount of chemotherapy reaching peripheral nerve endings and the capillaries of the hands and feet.

When used as a preventative treatment, 93% of patients experience no impairment in everyday life and remain pain-free.¹

After four months of chemotherapy, a study showed that 98% of their patients experienced a reduction in symptoms greater than grade one, with no dose changes or treatment interruptions needed.²

Scalp cooling is a simple but effective procedure that has been proven to reduce chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA)³.

The Paxman© cooling cap is a lightweight silicone cap connected to a compact refrigeration system. The patient’s scalp is cooled by a few degrees, 30 minutes before starting their chemotherapy session, during and afterward for up to 90 minutes.

Cooling blood-vessel vasoconstriction, has been shown to reduce blood flow in the scalp to 20% to 40% of the normal rate, resulting in less chemotherapeutic drug being delivered to the hair follicles.

Scalp cooling efficacy has been proven in various clinical trials, including the SCALP trial⁴, where women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy with a taxane or anthracycline had a 53% rate of hair preservation versus 0% in the control group after four cycles of chemotherapy.

We’re always taking steps to improve the service provided to patients at GenesisCare. We’re proud to give our patients the ability to use a treatment proven to reduce the risk of debilitating chemotherapy side effects.

– Dr Russell Burcombe, Clinical Oncologist and Breast Clinical Director at GenesisCare

References

1. Schaper T, Rezai M, Petruschke G, Gross B, Franzmann L, Darsow M. Efficiency of controlled cryotherapy in prevention of chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Annals of Oncology. 2019;30:v733.
2. Schaper T, Gross B, Franzmann L, Darsow M. 186P Using a new controlled thermotherapy (Hilotherapy®) during chemotherapy prevents chemotherapy induced polyneuropathy (CIPN). Annals of Oncology. 2020;31:S83-S84.
3. Nangia J, Wang T, Osborne C, Niravath P, Otte K, Papish S et al. Effect of a Scalp Cooling Device on Alopecia in Women Undergoing Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer. JAMA. 2017;317(6):596.
4. Van den Hurk C, Peerbooms M, van de Poll-Franse L, Nortier J, Coebergh J, Breed W. Scalp cooling for hair preservation and associated characteristics in 1411 chemotherapy patients - Results of the Dutch Scalp Cooling Registry. Acta Oncologica. 2012;51(4):497-504.

We use the latest surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT) techniques in combination with VMAT or SABR to enable 3D and 4D set-up and superior motion management during radiotherapy.

The accuracy of radiotherapy is enhanced when combined with SGRT – a sophisticated stereovision technology that monitors thousands of points on the patient’s skin during set-up and treatment, unlike other commonly used systems that rely on CT imaging – further increasing radiation exposure.

This powerful system reduces positioning errors to improve the overall accuracy, as well as the speed and comfort of treatment.

Examples are:

• Gating and beam hold facilitating 4D IMRT for moving lesions
• SABR and SRS couch and patient monitoring for accurate set-ups
• Intrafraction variation minimisation by capturing surface data in real time
• Surface data captured at each attendance to manage interfraction variation and dosimetric changes

These advances provide important benefits to our patients including the option of open-face treatment shells and tattoo-free treatments.