Treatment summaries improve communication between acute cancer services and primary care. At the end of patient’s primary treatment for cancer, treatment summaries help ensure their ongoing health needs are optimised.

Our cancer team has produced this briefing on treatment summaries for primary care cancer leads. The aim is to support GPs and cancer managers in their discussions with secondary care to improve the use and quality of treatment summaries. These may take place in clinical commissioning discussions, pathway groups and at clinical quality review meetings. Treatment summaries are an important means of improving communication between acute cancer services and primary care at the end of primary treatment for cancer so that planning for patients’ on-going health needs is optimised.

The briefing outlines methods of supporting commissioners and providers to ensure treatment summaries are embedded in current practice.