Abstract
Objectives: The urology-oncology service in NHS Ayrshire and Arran (AA) is nurse-led, with a multidisciplinary team (MDT) process at its core. Here, we assess the efficacy of this nurse-led service against similar services and consider it in the context of the new NHS cancer strategy. Materials and methods: Audit data regarding the management of patients with urological malignancies published by the West of Scotland Cancer Network (WoSCAN) were compared against pre-determined quality performance indicators. These data were used to assess the efficacy of the NHS AA service against the other WoSCAN centres. Results: All parameters analysed were comparable, except for the following performance indicators for which the NHS AA data appeared to show significant improvement compared with the other WoSCAN centres: the number of patients with bladder cancer with recorded TNM clinical staging ( p = 0.012); the proportion of patients with prostate cancer who underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy for histological diagnosis where a minimum of 10 cores are received by pathology ( p = 0.043); and the number of patients with metastatic prostate cancer who underwent immediate hormone therapy ( p = 0.031). Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrates that the NHS AA urology-oncology nurse-led MDT-based service is a highly efficient and well-functioning structure.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
