Improved Clinical Data Reporting Supports NHS Goals for UK Cancer Care

Two initiatives have been completed aimed at streamlining the input of clinical data in the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

Varian Medical Systems' (Palo Alto, CA, USA) Aria for MedOncology information system is now compatible with the National Cancer Intelligences Network (NCIN)/National Chemotherapy Advisory Group (NCAG) draft dataset, and the Chemotherapy Planning Online Resource Tool (C-PORT).

"Far too much staff time in UK hospitals has been taken up inputting clinical data into different systems and there has been much duplication of effort, as they often need to manually input the same data two or three times," stated Bev McParland, area software sales manager for Varian Medical Systems. "The National Health Service is attempting to address this by introducing streamlined systems and Varian has worked hard to ensure our oncology information system is compatible with these. Aria medical oncology customers will receive these reports as part of their standard upgrade program. The upshot should be that clinical staff can spend less time inputting data and more time caring for patients."

The new draft NCIN dataset along with the existing reporting tools for radiotherapy will provide all stakeholders with the information to measure patient outcomes in real time, plan for future facilities, and adjust funding based on accurate and timely data. To ensure compatibility with this draft dataset, Varian received support from two key customer facilities that acted as pilot sites (Thames Valley and Lancashire Cancer Network), along with advice and support from the National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) and National Cancer Intelligence Network.

Developed for the NHS (Leeds, UK) by Concentra (Addison, TX, USA), the C-PORT system is on on-line tool that applies advanced modeling techniques to tackle the problem of chemotherapy capacity planning. Available to all NHS hospitals, it enables them to produce a "model" of an entire cancer center, including staff, equipment and overhead. By inputting all these resources, administrators can calculate the financial and efficiency implications of changes in staffing or equipment.

"Manually inputting data from your oncology information system into C-PORT is very time-consuming, which is why Varian has created an interface between our Aria system and C-PORT," said Steve Laws, Varian's head of European software sales. "The NHS understands that by properly modeling resources they can spend money in the right way and achieve cost-efficiencies and we are working hard to ensure our systems interface effectively with these tools. With the government's comprehensive spending review, the emphasis is on efficiency savings within the NHS to fund future investment, and these systems play their part in driving those efficiency savings."

Jane Whittome, associate director of NCAT, said, "We are really pleased to have worked with Varian as they have supported clinical teams in the NHS by ensuring that their products are able to interface with CPORT making data entry easier and quicker and also ensuring that their e-prescribing system is compatible with the draft dataset, so that once collection of the datasets is mandatory, NHS Trusts who use their system will more easily be able to submit data."

Related Links:
UK National Health Service
Varian Medical Systems
Concentra