Debate contribution: Cancer Patients: ED Referral Pathway
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 18 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Cancer Patients: ED Referral Pathway
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4806370
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Oncology teams and surgical teams that manage cancer patients strive to minimise the need for emergency department visits. Every hospital trust in Northern Ireland has a 24-hour systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) telephone advice service. Patients are encouraged to contact their treating unit through that service if they feel unwell during or within six weeks of completing SACT treatment, or within 12 months of completing immunotherapy treatment. Similarly, cancer patients who have recently undergone surgical treatment receive verbal and written discharge advice, including instructions on how to access the surgical team and advice on under what circumstances they may need to seek emergency care. When a cancer patient is referred to an emergency department by their GP, they will be triaged, stabilised and assessed by the ED team based on clinical priority and within the physical and staffing constraints of the emergency department. If necessary, the ED team will contact the relevant oncology or surgical team to assess and admit that patient. In addition, each trust has an acute oncology service that aims to provide a coordinated approach to the care of cancer patients suspected of having a first diagnosis in the emergency setting or of those who are admitted acutely ill due either to the disease or to complications with treatment. That service currently operates on a five-day, nine-to-five model across all trusts. Extending the acute oncology service to seven-day working is a recommendation of the Northern Ireland cancer strategy, but, due to budgetary constraints, that has not been progressed. Work is still progressing to assess demand and to develop appropriate pathways, with costed proposals to extend the service being considered, based, again, on available funding.
276 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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