Lottery Funding In Wales Gives Macmillan Nurses Access To Video Conferencing To Provide Improved Palliative Care

Main Category: Palliative Care / Hospice Care
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 25 Sep 2008 - 9:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Lottery and Rotary Club funding in Wales has provided a group of Macmillan nurses with access to state of the art videoconferencing, allowing them to offer improved palliative care services to cancer patients.

The Palliative care team based in Tŷ Geraint Palliative Care Unit in Aberystwyth is a nurse-led service, with no specialist support from a consultant in palliative medicine and no provision for out of hours cover. Access for advice in situations that involve particularly difficult symptoms, or require the expertise are very difficult in the absence of a Consultant in Palliative medicine.

Holme Towers Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth, Cardiff has an excellent Palliative Care educational programme and contributes to education portfolio at Cardiff University up to Masters level. In addition, it hosts study days and best practice seminars. These would be valuable resources for staff working at other Marie Curie Cancer Care sites and NHS sites, or working in remote areas, but impractical for all staff to attend, for staffing and financial reasons.

A collaborative partnership was therefore formed between Ceredigion Division of Hywel Dda NHS Trust, the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth and Marie Curie Cancer Care to establish and develop videoconferencing and telemedicine services

Delyth Lewis, Telemedicine, South West Wales Cancer Network, explains: "The introduction of distance learning using videoconferencing technology has led to increased staff participation in education meetings, resulting in more people with a broader range of experience. The linked sites included 5 NHS and Marie Curie locations and 32 delegates from Marie Curie Cancer Care sites and NHS Palliative Care Centres, who would otherwise not have attended due to staffing and travel constraints."

Sherran Parry-Williams, a community Macmillan nurse, uses the equipment from Cardigan Hospital. She comments: "The use of videoconferencing technology is a real bonus to nurses like me, especially given our remote location. We now have a weekly meeting via videoconferencing where we can discuss patient care with colleagues and have access to the consultant if needed. We can now link into teaching sessions and study days which is important for our ongoing development. I have more time for my patients because I'm not spending hours on the road, driving to meetings."

She continues: "The patients we care for are suffering from terminal cancer. Many of them have to travel 20-30 miles to meet with the nurse, and many have to endure a 120 mile round trip for radiotherapy in Swansea. We can now bring patients into the vc-suite to talk to the consultant, and the aim eventually is to offer links from the patients' own homes."

MultiSense Communications has been providing specialist Medical Conferencing solutions based on Polycom equipment to all sectors of the NHS in England and Wales for over twelve years. Andrew Graley, Director of Healthcare Solutions comments: "It's very rewarding to see the benefits that the technology is providing for the Macmillan nurses and their patients. Because of the reduction in travel expenses, the cost of service delivery is now lower which makes it a viable option for many NHS Trusts. Furthermore, there are positive environmental savings due to reduced fuel consumption."

MultiSense Communications has over thirteen years experience in all aspects of video-conferencing and is Polycom's only focused Specialist Healthcare Partner. MultiSense Communications is involved in many advanced and specialised healthcare applications which include cancer Multi Disciplinary Team meetings (MDTs), Telemedicine, A&E and MIU. In this 60th year of the NHS, such projects are helping clinicians provide enhanced patient care, reduce the need for travel and achieve the eighteen week target from GP referral. MultiSense Communications provide consultancy, product, training and operational support to clinicians throughout the UK. For additional information please call 01494 461949 or visit our website http://www.multisense.co.uk

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere.

Polycom

• Additional
• References
• Citations