Cancer care in Poland
Compared to other European Union countries, both health spending in general and spending on cancer care in Poland (by percentage of GDP per capita) are very low. Despite improvements in recent years, Poland still has much lower survival rates for most types of cancer than other EU countries.
All.Can Poland initiative
To this context, Poland launched the All.Can initiative in 2017 with the aim to improve efficiency in cancer care on a national level and to close existing gaps in care.
The Polish All.Can multi-stakeholder group is made up of Polish experts in the field of cancer care and public health, and representatives of patient organisations and industry. The All.Can Poland initiative was officially launched on 21 March 2017.
Website: all-can.pl
Activities and milestones
All.Can Poland has made some crucial steps in promoting the aims of All.Can through the following activities:
- All.Can Poland launch during the 6th Oncology Patient Forum in Poland organised by the Polish Coalition of Cancer Patients (PKPO).
- Country specific report and recommendations – All.Can: improving the efficiency and stability of cancer care – recommendations for Poland – describing the state of play of cancer care in Poland in comparison to selected European countries.
- A petition to the Polish Minister of Health asking for implementation of mechanisms to improve efficiency in resource allocation.
- A series of video interviews with key members of All.Can Poland on the online medical portal Termedia.
Steering group
Professor Jacek Fijuth
President of the Polish Oncology Society
Professor Jacek Jassem
Medical University of Gdansk
Professor Maciej Krzakowski
Warsaw Oncology Center, national consultant on clinical oncology
Professor Zbigniew Nowecki
Warsaw Oncology Center, specialist in breast cancer
Professor Rodryg Ramlau
Medical University of Poznan
Dr Piotr Rutkowski
Warsaw Oncology Center, specialist in melanoma
Dr Krzysztof Składowski
Oncology Center, Gliwice
Professor Piotr Wysocki
President of the Polish Society of Clinical Oncology
Dr Joanna Didkowska
National Cancer Register
Urszula Wojciechowska
National Cancer Register
Małgorzata Gałązka-Sobotka
PhD – health economist, Lazarski University
Kamil Dolecki
President of the patient association “Sarcoma”
Barbara Pepke
President of the foundation “Star of Hope”
Ewelina Szmytke
Association for Fight Against Lung Cancer
Magdalena Zmyslowska
Polish League Against Cancer
Szymon Chrostowski
Polish Cancer Patient Coalition
Małgorzata Dziak-Masny
Representative of the Melanoma Academy
Elżbieta Łapot
Market Access Manager Oncology, Bristol-Myers Sqiubb
Supporting members
Dr Jacek Graliński
Amgen
Secretariat
Expert PR
All.Can Poland leads talks on challenges in cancer care at the annual Summer Oncology Academy in Warsaw
All.Can Poland organised two panel discussions at the 7th Summer Oncology Academy in Warsaw.
All.Can Poland leads panel discussion at Health Summit
All.Can Poland led a panel discussion at the Health Summit 2017, which took place in Warsaw.
Polish Minister of Health responds to All.Can Poland petition
Poland’s Minister of Health responded to a petition submitted by the Polish All.Can Stakeholder Group.
Polish All.Can initiative officially launched on 21 March 2017
The All.Can initiative was officially launched in Poland on 21 March, during the first panel of the 6th Oncology Patient Forum.
Past events
All.Can Poland – Launch event
21 March 2017
Health Summit Warsaw
19 June 2017
Warsaw
Summer Oncology Academy
9 August 2017
In 2021, All.Can Poland published two reports. They have both been medialized and delivered to decision makers, including members of Ministry of Health, National Health Found and Parliamentary Health Committee.
Optimization of the financing model of diagnostic and treatment services in cancer treatment in order to improve the patient’s path and maximize the results of lung cancer treatment outcomes
In Poland, it is estimated that almost 50 percent of patients have visited or will visit an oncologist, cancer surgeon or radiotherapist later than they should. For this reason, the number of deaths due to cancer may increase by up to 20%. Lung cancer is the most common malignant neoplasm in Poland and the first cause of cancer deaths in both women and men. Only about 13.5 percent. Polish lung cancer patients survive 5 years from diagnosis. In response to these challenges, the All.Can Polska initiative prepared a document containing a number of practical tips and specific recommendations on how to do this, also during the COVID-19 pandemic – an expert opinion entitled: “Optimizing the model of financing diagnostic and treatment services in cancer treatment in order to improve patient pathway and maximization of lung cancer treatment outcomes ”.
Click on the image to view the report:
Standards of patient service in the treatment of breast cancer
Coordinated, comprehensive care for patients with neoplastic diseases is becoming a standard in health protection. Successful management of the patient along his individual path, from the suspicion of disease to rehabilitation after treatment, requires perfect organization of the work of the oncology center. Although there are generally available guidelines for the organization of patient service, diagnosis and treatment processes as part of combined cancer therapy, they are not universal. Each center has different conditions, such as the location of buildings, IT systems used, the number of patients or employees, and therefore should develop its own procedures and standards. The methods that are worth using for this purpose are presented in the report from the project “Standards of patient service in the treatment of breast cancer”.
Click on the image to view the report:
The project aroused the interest of Minister of Health. In 2021 the report and its recommendations was presented at the workshop organized for directors of oncology hospitals. Further workshops organized for individual hospitals are planned for 2022.
All.Can Poland report
The describes the state of cancer care in Poland and the recommendations reflect the consensus of Polish experts in the field of cancer care and public health, representatives of patient organizations and industry, who are part of the Polish Steering Group, established within the framework of the international All.Can project.
The key message of the report is the need for more efficient budget management through better allocation of resources for cancer care. The report affirms it will be possible to improve outcomes for patients using the available resources, while maintaining that the achievement of expected performance indicators in the long-term will require increased investment. It put forward the following core objectives and recommendations for improving efficiency and sustainability of cancer care in Poland:
- Improving the allocation of available resources for cancer care
- Increasing the role of primary prevention and screening
- Ensuring faster and broader access to innovative health technologies
- Considering the perspective of patients in all decisions related to the process of planning, implementation and evaluation of cancer care
- Improving patient access to clinical trials.
Click the button below to read the report:
Video interviews
All.Can Poland has published a series of video interviews with key members of All.Can Poland on the online medical portal Termedia.
Disclaimer:
The All.Can initiative is made up of leading representatives of patient organisations, policymakers, healthcare professionals, science and industry. All the publications produced under the initiative reflect the consensus of All.Can members who have full editorial control. The All.Can initiative in Poland was created with the financial support of Bristol Myers Squibb (the main sponsor) and Amgen, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. None of the content developed in discussions and activities of the All.Can initiative contains direct or indirect references to specific medicinal products or therapies.