Doctors with a table discussing care

Transforming cancer multi-disciplinary team working

Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings cost the NHS an estimated £50 million per year and take up significant clinical time and staff resources. With Bleepa®’s asynchronous chat, 40% of cases could be handled outside of traditional MDTs, which could release on an annual basis:

  • Approximately 250 consultants back into the system
  • 1,959 hours per acute trust
  • £300,000 per acute trust

Improving efficiency for cancer MDTs

Additionally, there are other costs associated with traditional MDTs, including the administrative resources for scheduling and managing logistics and maintaining records, support staff resources, equipment and facilities, and training and education.

Bleepa® can help reduce these burdens and, as all relevant data and clinical conversation is captured as part of the patient record, creates a fully auditable account of patient care.

We need to maximise senior clinical time within the NHS and traditional MDTs cost a great deal of time and resource to all involved.

 

Using digital technology like Bleepa® to deliver asynchronous MDTs, with the flexibility for clinicians to contribute when it’s most convenient and as soon as results are available, is so much more valuable for the most efficient, effective patient care.

Dr Ian Francis, Clinical Senior Responsible Officer – Cancer & Diagnostics, Sussex ICS

Supporting guidance from the NHS Independent Cancer Taskforce

Guidelines from the NHS Independent Cancer Taskforce call for:

  • Significant drive for bi-directional, asynchronous chatto expedite patient care and increase efficiency
  • Provision of a comprehensive dataset at the point of referral should be available
  • Better preparation is needed to smooth out logistical issues ahead of MDTMs, such as using a checklist ensuring all information is readily available
  • Regular audit of selection criteria, Standards of Care and patient outcomes should be undertaken
  • A maximum limit should be set on the number of cases discussed at a single MDTM

Bleepa® can help support this guidance by:

  • The only fully compliant clinical communications platform being used within the NHS
  • Patient-centred dataset – single view of  relevant clinical information for review & discussion
  • Tailor-made checklists to ensure all data is available prior to case review at MDT
  • Fully auditable trail – MDT discussion/outcomes uploaded into the patient record system post-episode
  • Stratify patients: complex cases reviewed during traditional MDT, less complex may be suitable for asynchronous MDT working

Faster diagnosis standards

A four-week delay in treatment is associated with an increase in mortality across all common forms of cancer treatment.

Faster diagnosis standards require the ruling out of cancer within 28 days of referral, and the beginning of treatment within 62 days. To deliver on these standards, it is essential to reduce and remove those parts of the pathway that cause delays for patients. With cases of suspected cancer, any time saved by reducing unnecessary outpatient appointments, diagnostic delays or lack of specialist availability is vital.

Bleepa® connects clinical settings and brings clinicians within and across those settings together into one easy-to-use platform with a holistic view of the patient, making all the key data such as medical imaging and test results available in a patient-centric clinical chat.