GIRFT has developed a new how-to manual offering practical steps to help trust urology teams confidently establish and scale their transurethral laser ablation (TULA) services for bladder cancer patients.
Supported by the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) and the British Association of Urological Nurses (BAUN), the new Transurethral Laser Ablation for bladder cancer pathway guide has been developed by a team of 20+ clinicians from across England. It offers practical advice on service location, staffing, equipment and documentation, as well as addressing pathway challenges and those around diagnostics and pre-procedure assessment.
A useful delivery checklist details the suggested actions in an easy-to-read, concise format.
Sachin Agrawal, a consultant urologist at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, led the GIRFT Academy TULA working group.
“This guide focuses on practical, implementable advice which we think will be helpful to a wide audience, from new practitioners and service managers to those seeking to optimise or scale their activity, including more advanced cases. As a group, we understand there is variation in resources, patient populations and local challenges, but by bringing together clinical experts from established centres and aligning experiences, we aim to accelerate and develop services across the wider NHS.”
Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer with approximately 10,500 new cases every year in the UK. Management is complex and challenging, and the patients affected are often frail or have comorbidities, requiring safer treatments.
TULA offers a minimally invasive treatment option that can be delivered in an outpatient setting using local anaesthesia, making it especially beneficial for older people with frailty who may not tolerate traditional interventions. More than 100 TULA services have been established in the UK, with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 procedures performed annually. However, GIRFT data shows there is significant variability in service delivery and in the quality of the data available.
