Video Conferencing has helped improved Hospital Care
What does this mean exactly?
Installed by Questmark as part of the Birmingham Cancer Network, LifeSize high definition videoconferencing systems are playing a vital role in the treatment, monitoring and care of cancer patients. The systems are used by a variety of clinicians to provide the means for these experts to regularly review cases, and adopt or change courses of treatment.
What is The Cancer Network?
It was established in response to the NHS Cancer Plan. The Calman Hine Report is a Policy Framework for Commissioning Cancer Care and it recommended the establishment of multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) covering a number of treatments as these cross departmental and organisational boundaries: indeed, the pathways involved are among the most complex in the NHS.
The network is, therefore, a virtual organisation dispersed across several sites covering eight hospitals in the City of Birmingham and the boroughs of Sandwell and Solihull. A number of the hospitals are responsible for specific medical disciplines.
For example.
- University Hospital Birmingham is the centre for oncology and radiotherapy
- The Women’s Hospital is responsible for specialist gynaecological pathology.
How is this Network maintained? Why is Videoconferencing important to it?
The multi-disciplinary teams of specialists regularly meet to discuss and decide upon the most suitable treatment plans for each patient. In the Pan-Birmingham Network these team meetings take place every week presenting the specialists with a rather prosaic dilemma.
How to get to the meetings?
The option of driving through the traffic-clogged streets of the city and surrounding areas is fraught with all the problems of hold-ups, finding a parking space, time lost, and the cost. The second option – videoconferencing – virtually eliminates these.
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“Videoconferencing allows for earlier meetings and therefore quicker care, it can also improve treatment by permitting more consultations which, in the past, may have been impossible.”
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“Apart from saving consultants lots of time, the systems have enabled us to make more timely patient management decisions through improved liaison. It has meant, for example, better oncology input into management thereby helping us to meet the Cancer Peer Review Guidelines. In addition there has been more input from the specialists from other sites who might ordinarily been unable to attend.” Dr Raji Ganesan – Consultant Histopathologist at The Women’s Hospital, Birmingham. |
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“It was the need to achieve the Peer Review quality of service measures that prompted the decision to investigate videoconferencing. Owing to the travel problems, some MDT Meetings were failing because of poor attendance, especially if the key member – the oncologist – had been unable to attend.” Bernie County – Service Improvement Lead for the Network. |
Another motivation for Pan-Birmingham to join with Lifesize, was the fact that one of the hospitals – Heartlands – already had videoconferencing. They were keen to link to an Oncologist in the University Hospital Birmingham as pressure was building up from the MDTs and from the introduction of improving outcome guidance. In being able to make the link, enforces the centralisation of specialist services.
About the Project
It was started in 2005 by visiting other Cancer Networks to learn from their experiences. “This was valuable,” says Bernie County, “in drawing up the specification for what videoconferencing could achieve.”
Questmark was approached in January 2006, a major reason being their inclusion in the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) contract which as Bernie explains: “meant not only we were able to get better prices, but also avoided the need to go through the full tendering process.”
Achievement’s for Questmark
A 3-year framework agreement by the PASA for the supply of videoconferencing systems and services was awarded to Questmark in 2005. The agreement covers the supply and support of all videoconferencing systems and telemedicine applications using these conferencing technologies for any part of the NHS.
Following an initial visit to Questmark by just under 20 clinical staff from across the Cancer Network, to view all of the suitable systems available in the industry, two systems were shortlisted for further consideration. These were then set up in a real working environment in the Cancer Network and compared in a series of live tests with a full MDT meeting that allowed prospective users to operate and experience videoconferencing.
The overwhelming choice was LifeSize due primarily to the quality of their high definition resolution, an important factor in looking at medical evidence.
Questmark also impressed with their in-depth knowledge of videoconferencing, its applications and systems.
“They do more than just sell the kit as they want their customers to use the systems and get the maximum benefits from them. Installation wasn’t all plain-sailing, but Questmark were helpful at every turn. Their training was first-class and they provided more than the agreed package. They supported the first meeting and since then their Help Desk service remains available to solve any operational issues.”
Usage
For Meetings
General usage started in January 2007 since when the systems are used for at least one MDT meeting every week. Heartlands and Solihull Hospitals now routinely use them three times a week and, apart from the MDTs, the systems are being used for the wider benefit of all the establishments.
For High Quality Image Sharing
The linking of two peripherals to the videoconferencing systems enables the meetings to have access to various forms of imaging.
- WolfVision VZ9 visualisers, with lightboxes for viewing large x-rays, are connected to each system, their high quality resolution being needed to show the grey shades of the x-rays and CT scans.
- Other inputs are taken from microscopes linked to the videoconferencing camera and from PCs, especially useful for developing patient care plans though not for interpreting diagnostic evidence: if required videos from endoscopes can also be shown.
Overall Feedback
Comments from the two clinicians interviewed for this article highlight their experiences of videoconferencing. Raji Ganesan has been impressed with the systems’ ease-of-use, though both she and Richard Steyn stressed the importance of training, citing microphone location and voice-direction as problem areas. Together we can make a change in meeting culture and etiquette, and we hope that the full potential of our equipment is realised.