Breast Care Services Review
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Bristol Health Services Plan is pleased to report that the Breast Care Services Review is making good progress. The review started in April 2008 and we have conducted an extensive period of clinical and stakeholder engagement. This culminated in a large stakeholder event on the 6th April 2009, involving NHS clinicians and managers, voluntary sector organisations and patient representatives. All those involved in the review have a shared vision, which is to: Design and deliver a breast care service for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire that positions Bristol and Weston breast care services at the forefront of breast care practice, development and research and makes best use of available resource. Although the current services are of a high
quality, clinicians in the area consider that the service could be
further improved by moving to a single, co-ordinated service, in which
all the professional staff work together to share knowledge and best
practice.
With increased incidence of breast disease, there is a greater need to ensure that patients have easy access to services, receive prompt and accurate diagnosis and receive excellent treatment. There is a Project Board leading this review made up of representatives from all the trusts serving Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. They have put in place an independent external quality assurance function to act as a critical friend to keep the project on track. For further information about who is on the Project Board see Terms of Reference: |
Preferred location for the hubWe have been mindful through out the review of the anxiety of stakeholders around the location of the hub. It was recognised early on that there are two possible locations: the new Southmead Hospital, part of North Bristol NHS Trust and as part of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. The Project Board agreed that an independent panel should convene to hear the views of stakeholders on the important clinical adjacencies and accessibility to see whether one option was clearly preferable over the other. The panel in fact met twice in order to ensure issues had been robustly tested. The panel’s recommendation, which was agreed by the Project Board, is to test Southmead as the preferred location for the hub via a process of due diligence. |
The new service modelThere is consensus between clinicians, management and patients on a new service model, which is being called the hub and spoke model. At the hub there will be teams of specialists, including radiologists, pathologists, surgeons and nurses all working together. They will provide screening, diagnostics, pathology and surgery. The hub will focus on providing a service for symptomatic patients and high risk cases. The proposed hub will be based in Bristol and have a satellite in Weston super Mare. The spokes will be in
the community, close to where people live and they will deal with
follow-up care. The clinical pathway will describe the seamless service between the hub and the spokes. A pilot nurse led assessment of non urgent referrals and follow ups started in Yate in March 09. We will evaluate this pilot to learn lessons for the development of the spokes. The outline clinical
model document provides further information: |
What the project hopes to achieve and by when
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For further informationThe documents below will provide further information about process: Background Documents and Reports
Project Status Reports
Project Board Minutes
Newsletters |
How to contact usIf you would like more information, or to get involved with the Breast Care Services Review, please contact Emma Phillips via email, emma.phillips@bristolpct.nhs.uk, or telephone 0117 984 1629. |
