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 publication of report “Diagnosis of changes in oncological care in 2022” – January 2023

Diagnosis of changes in oncological care in Poland Periodically published document “Diagnosis of changes in care oncology” is a collection of information on systemic changes implemented in Poland in the field of oncology basing on 5 areas defined by experts in the report “All.Can: improving…

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Contact

Secretariat: Ewa Matusiak

ewa.matusiak@expertpr.pl

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 at the Summer Oncology Academy for Journalists – 12th August 2018

For the VIII time, the Summer Oncology Academy for Journalists was held, organized by the Dr. Maciej Hilgier Fundation. As part of a series of educational lectures for journalists on topics in the field of oncology, we had the opportunity to present our initiative and show how important and necessary it is to take into account indirect costs in the process of financing oncology therapies. All.Can Polska was represented by Szymon Chrostowski, Chairman of the Steering Group and Dr. Jakub Gierczyński, expert of the Institute of Healthcare Management at the Lazarski University, who presented the issue: “Effectiveness of health care – indirect costs and patient assessment”.

During the speech, Szymon Chrostowski called to look at the expenses in oncology through the prism of the state budget, and not only the budget of the Ministry of Health, then the expenditure on treatment becomes an investment, not a cost. Dr. Jakub Gierczyński, pointed out that indirect costs should be taken into account in decisions on the costs of treatment in oncology, because then you can see how profitable it is to invest in innovative therapies, thanks to which the patient has a chance not only for a longer life, but also return to professional and social activity, which translates into a reduction in expenses related to sick leave, disability pensions, patient care and others.

We encourage you to watch the entire lecture, which we received thanks to the courtesy of the LAO organizer – Dr. Maciej Hilgier Fundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25KjwR8GmrE

All.Can Poland publication of report “Diagnosis of changes in oncological care in 2022” – January 2023

Diagnosis of changes in oncological care in Poland Periodically published document “Diagnosis of changes in care oncology” is a collection of information on systemic changes implemented in Poland in the…

All.Can Poland Steering Committee Meeting, 12.01.2023

Annual meeting of All.Can Poland Steering Committee, 12.01.2023, Warsaw Members of the All.Can Poland Steering Committe met on January 12th 2023 to summarize the activities of the Initiative in the…

Project Optimizing the use of hospital drugs – Oct 2022

The President of All.Can Poland Szymon Chrostowski and Piotr Steciwko, member of the initiative and Head of Hospital Pharmacy at Lower Silesian Oncology Center presented the project at the session…

Presentation of project “Standards of patient service as part of the treatment in breast cancer units” during All.Can Global Summit – June 2022

On 15th and 16th June, All.Can held its virtual Global Summit entitled ‘Taking actions: implementing efficiency in cancer care globally”, where important conversations were unlocked and concrete recommendations on ways…

Organization of cycle of workshop for oncology hospitals personnel on „Standards of patient service as a part of the treatment of breast cancer”” – June 2022

Project „ Standards of patient service as a part of the treatment of breast cancer” and its recommendations were presented during two workshops to personnel of oncology hospitals.

Project: Optimizing the use of hospital drugs – Nov 2021

At the end of 2021 All.Can Poland joined the works on project initiated by Polish Oncology Society aimed at optimizing the use of hospital drugs. The co-authors of the project…

Presentation of project „ Standards of patient service as a part of the treatment of breast cancer” and its recommendations to management of oncology hospital in Poland – Nov 2021

Report “Standards of patient service as a part of the treatment of breast cancer” is a document summarizing the work carried out at the Center for Breast Diseases (Breast Unit)…

Cancer patient in the age of the COVID 19

On the initiative of patient organizations – members of the All.Can Poland Steering Group, a film was prepared aimed at people suspected of having cancer and patients who are already…

Appeal of All.Can Polska “Oncology during the COVID-19 pandemic”

The COVID-19 pandemic has made everything subordinate to the fight against the coronavirus. The exceptional situation is for patients with oncological diseases, who, due to their reduced immunity and the…

All.Can Polska provides information related to the care of hemato-oncological patients in the time of the COVID-19 epidemic

All.Can Polska provides information related to the care of hemato-oncological patients in the time of the COVID-19 epidemic. Go to the website: https://hematoonkologia.pl/koronawirus

All.Can’s position on continued access to cancer care during the COVID 19 epidemic

The purpose of this document is to provide recommendations and practical tips to ensure effective care for cancer patients during the COVID-19 crisis. http://all-can.pl/data/stanowisko_All_Can_COVID_kwiecien_2020.pdf

XV Health Market Forum October 21st-22nd, 2019

The Health Market Forum was held for the 15th time. Representing  All.Can Poland Beata Ambroziewicz and Szymon Chrostowski participated as panelists in 2 sessions In the session “Financing health services…

All.Can Poland at the Cancer Prevention 2020 conference, September 2019

On September 18th, 2019, representatives of All.Can Poland participated in the Cancer Prevention 2020 conference organized by the Medical Research Agency. Conference participants discussed the directions outlined in the National…

Summer Oncology Academy for Journalists, August 2019

All.Can Poland took part in the IX Summer Academy of Oncology for the second time. The initiative was represented by Szymon Chrostowski, Chairman of the Steering Group of All.Can Poland,…

All.Can at the Congress of the Polish Society of Oncological Surgery, May 2019

All.Can Poland was invited to take part in the session “Cooperation of patients and oncologists during the XXV Jubilee Congress of the Polish Society of Oncological Surgery, which was held…

All.Can Polska at the IV Congress of Health Challenges, March 2019

On March 7th-8th, 2019, the IV Health Challenges Congress (HCC) took place. It is a forum for multi-threaded discussion on key issues for healthcare systems. Among the invited guests was…

XIV Health Market Forum, session “Indirect costs in the health care system” 23rd October 2018

The participants of the session discussed the definitions of indirect costs and the validity of the analysis of the so-called the total cost of disease, which is essential for a…

All.Can Poland at the Summer Oncology Academy for Journalists 12th August 2018

For the VIII time, the Summer Oncology Academy for Journalists was held, organized by the Dr. Maciej Hilgier Fundation. As part of a series of educational lectures for journalists on…

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

On 21 March, the All.Can initiative was officially launched in Poland during the first panel of the 6th Oncology Patient Forum organized by the Polish Coalition of Cancer Patients (PKPO).…

Health Summit Warsaw

19 June 2017

Warsaw

All.Can Poland will hold a panel discussion during the Health Summit in Warsaw, will focus on better resource allocation and access to innovative health technologies in cancer care.

Summer Oncology Academy

9 August 2017

Two All.Can sessions on prevention and screening – as well as on resource allocation and innovation – will be held during the Summer Academy on Oncology.

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.