Evaluation of the UCLH-Macmillan Partnership to deliver improvements in the care, treatment, support, and information to patients with cancer throughout their individual journeys

The University College London Hospitals NHS Trust—Macmillan Cancer Support partnership is intended to improve the experiences of carers and patients with cancer by improving the whole journey from diagnosis through to palliation, and to embed this in a system that actively engages patients and carers in decision-making at each step. The evaluation aimed to assess the working of the partnership and its capacity to support the partners' plans to move forward through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The evaluation team aimed to approach the question of how the partnership was working from the perspectives of staff, volunteers, and senior strategic and operational managers. The evaluation also aimed to understand if, even at this early stage, there were perceptible changes in patient experience compared with comparable changes elsewhere in the NHS. Key findings were that: a) within broadly positive perceptions across the board there were important variations — with senior staff more positive and optimistic than front-line staff; b) there was a positive ambition, vision and expectation among leaders but this was not always communicated to the whole organisation; c) staff wanted to understand what the partnership meant in specific terms for their jobs and careers; d) there was strong support for strengthening learning through partnership working; and e) there was a danger that positive changes might be undercut by growing pressures on staff.