Originally, information for clinical decision making, treatment implementation and administrative service monitoring came from a variety of sources and collation of this involved a great deal of resource. It was often inefficient to the detriment of excellent integrated patient care.
This was resolved for the West London Cancer Network (WLCN) by the development and implementation of Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Teamwork systems (CMDTs). CMDTs provide system support and also enable the targets set by the Cancer Reform Strategy to be stated in the National Cancer Waiting Times report.
To improve standards of patient care and make better clinical decisions as a whole, WLCN commissioned a feasibility study and service specification for an effective collaboration system. The requirements of the system were to link eleven hospital sites across the network allowing individual EPR systems to communicate. The aim was to enhance MDT working and improve patient care standards using collaborative, user-friendly technology. The specification for the solution was clinically driven rather than financially or technologically focused.
Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Teamwork systems enable:
- Clinicians and administrative teams to manage cancer patients within increasingly complex, cross site meetings
- Fulfilment of current and future national performance requirements for cancer
- Collection of data to judge clinical performance
Core Benefits of the system:
- Provides an integrated MDT solution for the Trust, improving cross site communication and making better use of Trust resources
- Captures all Cancer Waiting Times report information in a single solution
- Allows for further extension to other sites, and possibly throughout the rest of London
The implementation of the CMDTs was critical to:
- Enable clinicians & administrative teams to manage cancer patients within increasingly complex, cross-site meetings
- Fulfil current & future national performance requirements for cancer
- Collect data to judge the clinical performance of the Trust