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Local prostate cancer initiative wins national award

25 October 2024

A pathway to improve prostate cancer diagnosis for patients in west Wales has been recognized at the prestigious NHS Wales Awards 2024.

The PROSTATE pathway improvement initiative won the Efficient Care Award at an awards ceremony in Cardiff on Thursday 24 October 2024.

Hywel Dda University Health Board (BIP), together with Swansea University and Cancer Research UK's TET Programme, developed a new prostate cancer rapid diagnosis pathway (PROSTAD) to tackle the delay in diagnosing prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the UK, delays in diagnosis can negatively impact patient outcomes and quality of life and diagnostic waiting times in Wales exceed the recommended time of 28 days.

Yeung Ng, Hywel Dda University Health Board Consultant Urologist and PROSTAD Clinical Project Leader, said: “This has been a very successful collaboration which has reduced the time between referral and diagnosis of prostate cancer by 28 days for our patients at Hywel Dda. The lessons learned will be shared across other cancer pathways within the health board and nationally.

"I am very grateful to our entire clinical and research team and to our patients for making this project a success."

Professor Phil Kloer, Chief Executive of Hywel Dda University Health Board, congratulated the teams saying: "Working together on this dedicated cancer pathway helps us identify inefficiencies, reduce waiting times and improve communication with patients.

“The support and resources from Swansea University and Cancer Research UK, together with the participation of healthcare professionals and patient advocacy groups, have been central to this work. I congratulate everyone involved in this significant achievement."

Professor Nick Rich from Swansea University's School of Management added: “The PROSTAD project clearly demonstrates the benefits arising from our university health board partnership and how combining our resources has a positive impact. The project has brought together research from multiple Swansea University faculties, supported 'forward thinking' clinical teams, and demonstrated the value of Cancer Research UK's investments to deliver key benefits for patients, their loved ones and professionals in our region and beyond .”

Naser Turabi, Director of Evidence and Implementation at Cancer Research UK said: "We have been very proud to work with the fantastic PROSTATE team at Hywel Dda University Health Board, to support the development of a rapid diagnostic pathway for prostate cancer. The new route aims to safely reduce unnecessary biopsies and reduce waiting times. We hope to work with partners across Wales, to ensure it transitions into mainstream practice. This project is part of our Test, Evidence, Transition (TET) Programme, which focuses on taking proven innovations, gathering evidence to accelerate equitable adoption for the benefit of all.”

Since its introduction, the new route has had a positive impact on reducing waiting times and on the patient and staff experience:

  • The time between GP referral to MRI has reduced from 22 days to 14 days
  • MRI reporting time has reduced from 8 days to 1 day
  • Clinical reviews and biopsy decisions are received 1 day after MRI
  • Patients preferred to receive MRI results and discuss biopsy requirements over the phone
  • Improvements provide faster access to radiological investigations and biopsy decisions
  • Positive feedback from patients highlights the importance of timely diagnosis
  • Urology staff reported improved workflow efficiency

The aim of the health board is to continue to improve the diagnosis of prostate cancer for patients across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire and to share best practice across the wider NHS.

The NHS Wales Awards celebrate quality improvement work that has transformed the experience and outcomes for people in Wales and provides and showcases the talented health and care staff working together to improve services and patient care across Wales.

For more information about this award visit (opens in a new tab)