This Lung Cancer Awareness Month, we want to talk to you about a dedicated nurse-led service at OUH that has been setting an example by delivering safe, effective and highly efficient patient-centred care, as evidenced by their consistently excellent performance over the last two years.
The Lung Nodule service comprises two specialist nurses and an administrator. The team works alongside respiratory physicians and thoracic radiologists to analyse CT images and determine whether patients can be discharged, or need follow-up scans or referrals.
The team receives an average of 80 referrals a month via OUH clinicians and GPs. One of the main roles of the nurses upon receiving a referral is to analyse CT images for any solid nodules and determine whether the patient can be discharged, or if they need follow up scans or a referral to the lung cancer team. The nurses discuss complex cases, possible cancers, and growing nodules with the respiratory and radiology consultants and make further action plans as needed.
The service is largely virtual, but there is clinic time twice a week to see patients face-to-face and discuss more complex cases.
Initially having to tackle a six-month backlog – which they cleared within months – the service has been noted for impressive delivery and development, with a service template for other similar centres across the country to use. This will benefit patients and ensure consistency of service, with an improvement in lung cancer detections rates and cost savings.
This programme has shown improvements across the service, with:
- A reduction in time from CT scanning to letting patients know their results
- A reduction in patients needing follow-up scans
- A projected significant increase in savings for OUH.
??? Rachel Benamore, Lead Consultant Radiologist for the service said: "I'm extremely proud of the service that we have built with the nodule navigators, who provide safe and effective care for our patients. The service has proved to be immensely helpful in reducing waiting time for patients, which is really important at what can be quite a worrying time for them."
???Professor Andrew Brent, Chief Medical Officer at OUH, said: "It is important and appreciated that our teams find innovative solutions to make our services efficient and reduce patient waiting times.
??? "We are thrilled to see the positive impact of the lung nodule service, and are excited to see further improvements across it."
You can read more about the service in our news story ??
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