Update on multidisciplinary rapid access clinic at Barts Health
Barts apologise for pausing the Multidisciplinary Rapid Access Clinic (MDRAC) service at very short notice on 18 August. This was due to severe and unforeseen staff shortages and was done to protect patients.
They have been working with the support of North East London Cancer Alliance to see how the service can be continued and in what capacity. As promised, they are writing to you with more details.
Existing referrals
Referrals that have been sent for management advice have, where possible, been answered and returned to referring clinicians. They are also putting management plans in place for patients who have been referred to service but are yet to be triaged.
New referrals to the non site-specific (NSS) cancer pathway
Barts Health will continue to receive referrals for the non-site specific cancer pathway. These referrals will then be redirected to the most appropriate service at one of our hospitals. For us to do this correctly it is essential that GPs complete the minimally required information and detail a patient’s symptoms. This process will be in place for up to three months.
GPs are also reminded of the direct access diagnostic services that are available within 2 weeks:
Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest GPs have direct access to:
City and Hackney GPs have direct access to:
- CT chest: direct access CT chest
- CT CAP: chest, abdomen and pelvis: direct access for unintentional significant weight loss
Services operating as usual
The following services are continuing as usual:
- Abnormal imaging including from the TLHC
- 2ww pathway for Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP)
- Referrals from emergency departments
- Existing MDRAC patients in their diagnostic and follow up pathway
- Management advice, including accessing the rapid access email listed below
Next steps
They understand your frustrations and we are doing our utmost to create extra capacity where we can until our new team members start.
Furthermore, we are meeting with GP cancer leads for north east London to discuss what else we can do to improve the service and resolve these issues in the short and medium term.
If you have any problems regarding non site-specific cancer pathway referrals, or need any additional advice, please email bhnt.rapidaccessdiagnosticclinic@nhs.net and mark as URGENT.
They apologise again for any inconvenience.
Barts Health NHS Trust