Case Study: Urgent NHS MDT
Background
A senior Consultant Dermatologist at a Hospital in Essex recently had an urgent case to discuss at the NHS Skin MDT. The patient had a rare Merkel Cell Carcinoma requiring an urgent decision regarding radiotherapy. Unfortunately, the case was not discussed at the routine Skin MDT due to lack of time/resources and there is apparently a history of cancelled MDTs which can delay the patient pathways. The patient required a decision regarding therapy for this aggressive tumour as a matter of urgency.
The Solution
The Consultant Dermatologist contacted her Consultant Clinical Oncologist
colleague who routinely uses the CONTEXT eMDT system to see if the patient case could be discussed urgently. The patient case was added to the eMDT system and the case started gathering digital input from the MDT members prior to meeting. In view of the urgency, the case was discussed at the eMDT and a decision regarding wide local excision (WLE) and radiotherapy was made with the report being automatically generated ready for distribution to GP, cancer radiotherapy unit, etc.
There was the option to initiate an immediate ad hoc eMDT, however, it was decided to add the case to the next eMDT which was only a few days away.
The Consultant Dermatologist has been invited to attend and present future cases at the eMDT which she now keen to do.
Where we are today
Dermatology cases in Essex can now be discussed rapidly and efficiently to continue
patient care pathways using the CONTEXT eMDT system. Skin cancer pathways can
be unnecessarily extended and are known to exceed the 100-day pathway point for
cancer care. One major stumbling block has previously been the delays at MDT and
this can now be addressed in an efficient way using the CONTEXT system.
