Author of

• 12853

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  P3.24 - Poster Session 3 - Supportive Care (ID 160)

  • Event: WCLC 2013
  • Type: Poster Session
  • Track: Supportive Care
  • Presentations: 1
  • Moderators:
  • Coordinates: 10/30/2013, 09:30 - 16:30, Exhibit Hall, Ground Level

  • 12856

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    P3.24-003 - Compliance with Cancer Treatment Indicators - Results of a 3 month Audit of Patients with Lung Cancer Treated with Curative Intent (ID 176)

    09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): C. Smith
    • Abstract

    Background
    New Zealand’s National Lung Cancer Working Group (NLCWG) has established a number of standards for the management of patients with lung cancer as part of the Standards of Service Provision for Lung Cancer Patients in New Zealand. Standard One, relating to timely access to services, is that patients requiring active treatment should start treatment within 62 days of secondary care receiving a referral. The Ministry of Health has subsequently introduced Faster Cancer Treatment (FCT) Indicators for all cancer streams. • Indicator one (62 day target): time between referral with a high-suspicion of cancer and start of first cancer treatment • Indicator two (14 day target): time between referral and first specialist assessment (FSA) •Indicator three (31 day target): time between decision to treat and start of first cancer treatment Compliance targets around these indicators have not yet been set. A retrospective comparative audit performed by the Southern Cancer Network showed that only 28.3% of patients from the Upper South Island (incorporating the Nelson-Marlborough, West Coast, Canterbury and South Canterbury District health Boards) referred for curative intent treatment in 2010 met NLCWG Standard One. We performed a 3 month prospective audit to Determine if performance in the region around NLCWG Standard One had improved Identify barriers to compliance with the above targets

    Methods
    Data was collected prospectively for all patients presented at the regional lung cancer multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) from 1 August to 31 October 2012. Patients were included in the final audit if the recommendation of the decision MDM was that they should be offered curative intent treatment.

    Results
    A total of 73 patients were discussed at MDM during the audit period. 27 (37%) were recommended to undergo curative intent treatment. For these patients the median time between referral and FSA (Indicator 2) and between treatment FSA and start of definitive treatment (Indicator 3) were within target, with compliance of 88% and 78% respectively. However the median time between referral and start of first cancer treatment at 67.5 days did not meet Standard 1/ Indicator 1, with only 39.1% compliance with the 62 day target

    FCT Indicator Median Interval (days) Ref - FSA 7 (0-33) Tx FSA to Tx 18 (3-55) Ref - Tx 67.5 (14-118)

    Factors identified as barriers to achieving targets included diagnostic modality (bronchoscopy versus CT), number of staging investigations required and referral processes between services.

    Conclusion
    Performance against the 62 day target for patients in our region had improved but remained below the national recommended standard. A dedicated lung Cancer Clinic is to be established and referral processes between services streamlined to achieve acceptable performance against standards.