Kuwait Cancer Control Center's Strategic Plan 2019-2023

Objectives

Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) aims to provide integrated, professional and comprehensive cancer care for patients, families and society, spanning cancer control, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, supportive services and palliative care. Its strategic ambition is to attain regional and international excellence in cancer care and control through quality, safety, measurable outcomes, teamwork, education, respect and commitment.[1][2]KCCC is Kuwait’s tertiary oncology hospital for adult cancer patients and provides services across surgical oncology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, haematology and lymphoma, stem-cell transplantation, diagnostic services and supportive care.[3][4]

• Upgrade infrastructure by establishing a new KCCC building by 2023 and aligning facilities with clinical workflow.[5]
• Maintain and improve national, regional and international standing, including an aspiration to rank among the 20 leading hospitals in the Arab world by 2023 and to collaborate with internationally recognised oncology centres.[5]
• Advance comprehensive cancer care through multidisciplinary inpatient practice, improved patient-care pathways, updated policies and procedures, strengthened security and emergency preparedness, and a sustained safety and quality culture.[5]
• Develop workforce capability by aligning 75% of healthcare-worker job descriptions with Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations standards by 2020 and addressing competency assessment and staffing shortages.[4][5]
• Modernise health information by implementing electronic-file-only records by 2020 and enabling interdepartmental cancer-data sharing through a reliable intranet database by 2023.[5]
• Strengthen research and education by making research, training and continuing education integral to cancer promotion and care, with a target of at least one research paper annually from every service by the end of 2023.[1][5]
• Support prevention and earlier diagnosis through opportunities for national colorectal and breast cancer screening programmes, alongside alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 3.[4][5]

Implementation

Implementation combines specialised tertiary cancer services, cross-disciplinary care, infrastructure and digital development, quality improvement, workforce strengthening and collaboration with public, professional and community stakeholders.[1][5]KCCC operates within Kuwait’s three-level health system and six health regions, delivering specialised cancer care through a five-centre structure with 206 inpatient beds and 12 intensive-care beds.[3]Strategic planning for 2019–2023 involved hospital leadership, departmental representatives, the Quality Improvement Team and Task Force Team, with participation from clinical, diagnostic, nursing, pharmacy, records, quality, registry and technical-support functions.[1][6][7]

• Deliver integrated clinical services through specialised surgery, medical oncology, radiation therapy and radiation oncology, stem-cell and bone-marrow transplantation, diagnostics, laboratories and palliative care.[2][4]
• Coordinate administrative, clinical, technical and supportive functions, including cancer registration, medical records, pharmacy, laboratory services, nuclear medicine, radiology, physiotherapy, nutrition, infection control, psychiatry, preventive medicine and social work.[4]
• Apply multidisciplinary care to all inpatients, clarify care pathways, improve administrative support and address gaps in specialty services and auxiliary staffing.[4][5]
• Implement electronic records, interdepartmental data sharing, policy revision, emergency codes, security measures, staff training and research activities as operational mechanisms for safer and more coordinated care.[5]
• Collaborate with the Cancer Awareness National Committee, Cancer Awareness Network, Al Sidra, Positive Support Group, Patient Help Fund and Kuwait Society of Oncology.[4][5]
• Use accreditation, external recognition and cancer-registration capacity as quality-supporting mechanisms; KCCC is described as accredited by the national accreditation programme and acknowledged by the European Society for Medical Oncology, the International Atomic Energy Agency Quality Management Audit for Nuclear Medicine, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in relation to its registry.[4]
• Develop quality indicators through a balanced-scorecard approach and track the plan’s time-bound targets for facilities, workforce descriptions, emergency codes, security, international collaboration, research, electronic records, policy updates, safety culture and multidisciplinary care.[5]
• Address implementation risks including limited resource access, infrastructure deficiencies, weak occupational health and safety functions, lack of a just-culture approach, missing human-resources and legal-support departments, workforce turnover and shortages, and the Ministry of Health payment system for expatriates.[4][5]

The available material does not specify budgets, cost estimates, financing sources, resource-mobilisation arrangements, indicator definitions, baselines, reporting frequency, evaluation methodology or formal accountability procedures.[5]

Monitoring & Evaluation

Monitoring and quality assurance are framed primarily through time-bound strategic targets, accreditation, cancer registration and a proposed quality-indicator programme. The extract identifies several performance-related aims but does not provide a complete monitoring and accountability framework.[4][5]

• Use the cancer registry as a technical service supporting cancer-related information management; the registry is acknowledged by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.[4]
• Maintain quality assurance through national accreditation and external recognition, including acknowledgement by the European Society for Medical Oncology and the International Atomic Energy Agency Quality Management Audit for Nuclear Medicine.[4]
• Develop a quality-indicator programme based on a balanced-scorecard approach, identified as a strategic opportunity.[4][5]
• Track delivery against specified deadlines for infrastructure and workforce measures, including alignment of 75% of healthcare-worker job descriptions with Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations standards by 2020, implementation of applicable emergency codes by 2021, and strengthened hospital security by 2020.[5]
• Monitor service-development ambitions, including reaching the top 20 hospitals in the Arab world, establishing collaboration with internationally recognised oncology centres, and achieving at least one research paper annually from every service by the end of 2023.[5]
• Assess organisational and clinical changes through targets for electronic-file-only operation by 2020, reliable intranet-enabled cancer-data sharing by 2023, updated policies and procedures by 2020, safety-and-quality culture development by 2021, and multidisciplinary care for all inpatients by 2019.[5]
• Strengthen quality and safety through training, research enhancement and emergency-code implementation.[5]

Specific indicator definitions, baselines, data-collection methods, reporting frequency, evaluation methodology, surveillance targets, named reporting recipients and formal accountability processes are not specified in the supplied extracts.[1][2][5]

Costing & Financing

No budgets, cost estimates, expenditure figures, financing sources, resource-mobilisation targets, quantified funding gaps or economic assumptions are provided.[1][2][4][5]

• Identify limited access to resources as an operational threat affecting implementation.[5]
• Recognise workforce shortages, staff turnover and shortages of qualified auxiliary personnel as resource constraints, without associated financial values.[4][5]
• Consider development of a new Kuwait Cancer Control Center building as a strategic infrastructure priority, while providing no construction cost, funding source or allocation.[4][5]
• Note the Ministry of Health's newly implemented payment system for expatriates as an operational risk, without describing its financial impact or assumptions.[5]
• Support cancer-service development through planned electronic information systems, security, emergency preparedness, research, training, policy revision and multidisciplinary care, but without costed implementation plans.[5]

The extracts do not specify whether financing would be provided through the Ministry of Health, hospital allocations, external partners, charitable organisations or other sources.[1][2][4][5]