NHS West Sussex Health & wellbeing for life

All patients suspected or diagnosed with cancer in West Sussex.

Your GP may refer you under what is known as the two-week wait referral system. A patient leaflet about two-week wait by the Sussex Cancer Network can be downloaded here.

The majority of patients seen under the two-week referral system do not have cancer. It is important to know that being given an urgent appointment is to rule out a serious condition and does not necessarily mean that you have cancer. It is important that you try to attend if an urgent appointment is offered to you. Discuss with your GP if you feel you would not be able to attend an appointment within two weeks (e.g. because of a pre-booked holiday).

Once you have an appointment date, if for any reason you can no longer attend, please ensure you contact the hospital as soon as possible to let them know. This helps run an efficient service and ensures you get another appointment booked as soon as possible.

Following referral you would attend the relevant outpatient clinic (e.g. urology clinic, breast clinic) and be seen by the medical staff who will undertake any necessary tests to diagnose your problem. You may want to consider whether you want to take anyone with you to your appointment. Some hospitals or clinics may offer one-stop shops. These appointments could mean you are at the hospital for longer as you get your test results immediately. You might want to take this into account if you need to arrange caring responsibilities. Your hospital will be able to advise you.

Depending on the type of cancer and where it is in your body, subsequent treatment might happen at the local hospital (e.g. surgery, in the case of breast cancer), or at a principal cancer treatment centre (typically Brighton, Guildford, Portsmouth and Southampton for West Sussex patients). For a very few rarer cancers you may be offered another specialist centre, often in London. Your consultant will discuss with you the options for treatment.

Wherever possible, treatment is given locally but it is important that patients are offered the right specialist in their condition for key parts of their treatment. For example, your surgery may be at a cancer centre, but outpatient follow-up and tests can happen at your local hospital.

A team of professionals including your surgeon (if you need surgery), your oncologist (cancer specialist doctor), and specialist nurse will review your progress at each stage and discuss and co-ordinate the best care for you. This is known as the multi-disciplinary team meeting. Your consultant will discuss with you each stage of your treatment.

You will have a ‘key worker’ who will be your main point of contact and can provide advice and support. The key worker will often be a specialist nurse but could be another health professional.

Some patients may need radiotherapy or chemotherapy or both types of treatment. Your consultant will discuss this with you.  

For West Sussex patients radiotherapy is delivered centrally from one of the main cancer centres at Guildford, Brighton and Portsmouth. NHS West Sussex has a strategic goal to improve access to radiotherapy services and is working with hospitals and cancer networks to do this. This is a longer-term goal to provide a more localised service.

The type of chemotherapy you need will influence where this takes place. Some treatments in the form of medicines taken by mouth can be given to patients to take at home. Other treatments can be given at your local hospital and some will need to be kept at the cancer centre to give you the safest possible environment for your treatment.

Some patients may be offered to participate in research trials. This will depend on what type of cancer you have and your circumstances. If this is the case, your options will be explained and discussed with you.

Your specialist nurse will be able to provide information about support services that you might need. This could include other treatments, such as physiotherapy, and details of how to make contact with patient support groups.

Patients will be referred either by their GP, through a screening service, or when cancer is discovered through some other route. Patients should always see their GP if they have any concerns.