Enhancing patient safety and quality of surgical cancer care: The French National Cancer Plans

Two National Cancer Plans (2003–2007 and 2009–2013) have been launched in France to organise the healthcare offer in order to enhance quality and safety. The current Cancer Plan1 defines regulatory frameworks across the three major areas of cancer therapy: surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These regulatory frameworks are based on three pillars: transversal requirements for the quality of care; establishment of minimal thresholds for institutions and technical criteria that are required for each type of cancer surgery. Based on adherence to these requirements and following a process of continuous assessment, institutional accreditations (currently being allocated in 2010) will be given for a period of 5 years.