{"entity":{"id":"idea-acc-acute-oncology-assessment-units","kind":"idea","name":"Acute oncology assessment units so sick cancer patients bypass the emergency department","aka":[],"tldr":"A cancer patient with a fever or severe sickness during treatment should be seen quickly by a team that knows chemotherapy, not wait hours in a general emergency room.","summary":"Cancer patients present to emergency departments frequently during treatment and are often admitted when same-day specialist assessment would have avoided it. Acute oncology services and dedicated assessment units (established across the UK and in some US centres) provide a direct line, rapid triage, and protocolised management for neutropenic fever, dehydration, and immune-related toxicity. The proposal is to make such a unit a required component of every treating centre.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Fragmented care and guideline gaps): Hanna et al., Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis (BMJ 2020)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4087"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["supportive-care"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-care-fragmentation","b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-hanna-bmj"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Centres with an acute oncology assessment unit will reduce emergency-department attendances by treated patients by at least 30% and reduce admissions for low-risk febrile neutropenia by half.","rationale":"Direct access to specialist assessment avoids the delays and defaults of general emergency medicine, where admission is the safe reflex for unfamiliar toxicities.","test":"A before-and-after evaluation with emergency attendances, admissions, length of stay, and time-to-antibiotic for febrile neutropenia as endpoints.","maturity":"being-tested-at-scale","actor":"clinic","cost":"medium","horizonYears":2},"route":"/ideas/idea-acc-acute-oncology-assessment-units/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-care-fragmentation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Fragmented care and guideline gaps","route":"/bottlenecks/b-care-fragmentation/"},{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-hanna-bmj","kind":"paper","name":"Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis","route":"/key-papers/paper-hanna-bmj/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-acc-hospital-at-home-oncology","kind":"idea","name":"Hospital-at-home for oncology: treating low-risk febrile neutropenia and dehydration at home","route":"/ideas/idea-acc-hospital-at-home-oncology/"}]}}