ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5815

RTT - Education, training, advanced practice and role developments

ESTRO 2024

include, but are not limited to, the completion of courses in non-medical prescribing (NMP), thoracic clinical assessment, and advanced communications skills. The clinic runs alongside a consultant-led clinic, to provide support if required. Each patient seen is discussed by the MDT, with the appropriate plan of action universally agreed upon.

Figure 1.

Results:

To date, approximately 100 patients have been enrolled in the survivorship clinic. Of those, more than half have been referred to other services and a third of these patients were found to have disease recurrence or progression during routine and non routine diagnostic investigations. Other services utilised in the referral pathway have included teams within the gastroenterology, cardiology, respiratory, physiotherapy, speech and language, occupational health, clinical nurse specialists, and dietetic disciplines. Data analysis of the service is deemed necessary as the next step to confirm the benefits of this innovative service implementation. To date, it is evident that the patient pathway has demonstrated the reduction in acute episodes of care, such as less admissions to Accident & Emergency, Urgent care and GP visits. Patients have commented on the reassurance they feel with the consistency of being monitored by a core healthcare professional who is able to monitor their symptoms and facilitate management of their post treatment care.

Conclusion:

The implementation of this MDT clinic has not only helped streamline the patient pathway by offering a more focused management plan of late effects of treatment and identifying early signs of disease recurrence, but has also generated more capacity in the consultants’ clinics.

Additionally, it has helped enhance the advance practice role of the RTT and further established inclusivity within the team, leading to a mutually beneficial service for both patients and ultimately the RTT profession as a whole.

In order to fully evaluate the success of the clinic, a patient satisfaction survey will be the subsequent step in the review of this service.

Keywords: survivorship, oesophageal, RTT