The Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance is committed to ensuring that every patient in Greater Manchester is offered a quality Cancer Care Review with an appropriately trained professional within 12 months of their cancer diagnosis.

More people are living longer with and beyond cancer, which is great news! This means that Primary Care have a vital role to play in helping patients to manage their diagnosis and the effects of their treatment. The CCR aims to equip patients to self-manage their symptoms and know where to seek support and help from services including local resources, support groups, and the GP practice itself.

A Cancer Care Review (CCR) is a conversation between a patient and their primary care team about their cancer journey. It may be conducted by a GP, practice nurse or a cancer care coordinator as well as some other members of the clinical team if they have the training.

The CCR is patient led, meaning it is a discussion about things that are important to the patient, and may cover things like their understanding of the diagnosis and the treatment so far, any symptoms they have been struggling with either as an effect of the cancer or the treatment, what support they have or may need, and how best the primary care team can support them as they continue on their cancer journey. It is a holistic review, focusing not only on physical symptoms but on the psychological, social, financial, and other impacts of cancer.

The Personalised Care Team have developed a toolkit of materials to support practices’ delivery of Cancer Care Reviews, and an educational package to upskill practice colleagues to offer patients high quality reviews.