Southend NHS Trust reduces surgery waiting times

Southend NHS Trust is using visual communication systems to improve care for cancer patients and reduce surgery waiting times.

The technology allows cancer case decisions to be made in real time, by sharing radiology and tumour samples and recent test results between hospitals.

The facility, designed by Video South Medical Television, uses technology from Tandberg and Cisco to integrate audio visual and video conferencing technology in a seminar room.

The trust hopes to reduce waiting times for surgery by up to 15 days and operate on 30 per cent more patients.

‘We have studied the advantages of Telemedicine and found the patients have surgery about 15 days earlier than previously. In addition 30 per cent more patients are being operated on,’ said Dr. Davison, chest physician at Southend.

‘This is a major step forward which means that patients can be admitted directly to the surgical centre from the referring hospital,’ he added.

Doctors from eight different hospitals over an 80 mile radius can meet to discuss cancer cases without the need for travel by making decisions over video links.

Video South Medical Television has connected cameras, x-ray viewers, microscopes, network PCs and laptops to the Tandberg 6000 codec, allowing the London Chest team to view test results from Southend across videoconferencing.