Outcomes for cancer patients in Europe have improved significantly in recent years. But diagnoses are on the rise, due to factors including an ageing population and changing lifestyles. This puts increased pressure on health-care budgets and resources that are already overextended. Though the affordability and sustainability of cancer care are under constant scrutiny, disparate definitions and performance indicators have resulted in disjointed care pathways across Europe’s health-care systems. If innovation and best practices from European countries and their health-care stakeholders are to transform patient care through the redesign of cancer services, shared standards must first be established. Defining and measuring affordability, accessibility and sustainability in cancer care is an ambitious undertaking, and one of considerable importance given that cancer will affect around half of people during their lifetime. In contributing to that endeavour, this session will examine questions including:

• How should we define and measure affordability and sustainability for cancer care in
  Europe?
• What role will various stakeholders play in the definition and analysis of these factors?
• What are the main shortcomings of cancer care in the areas of financial accessibility and
  equity?
• How can we draft and implement cross-border performance indicators for use in
  monitoring health-care systems and improving their sustainability?

Following a 15-minute presentation from our expert researchers at Economist Impact on the health system sustainability for oncology in Europe report, we welcome an audience-led Q&A session before beginning the discussions of this expert panel.

The 45-minute panel discussion will unite major stakeholders from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, associations for health-care professionals, patient organisations and government to discuss how to define the main factors in access to cancer care and what performance indicators should be used to assess its effectiveness.

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