The Cancer Network was established in response to the NHS Cancer Plan and a report that recommended the establishment of multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs).
 
The network is a virtual organisation dispersed across several sites covering eight hospitals in the City of Birmingham and the Boroughs of Sandwell and Solihull.
 
The multi-disciplinary teams of specialists regularly meet to discuss and decide upon the most suitable treatment plans for each patient. In the Birmingham Cancer Network these team meetings take place every week presenting the specialists with a rather prosaic dilemma – how to get to the meetings?
 
The benefits of videoconferencing are summed up by Dr Raji Ganesan, Consultant Histopathologist at The Women’s Hospital, Birmingham: “Apart from saving consultants lots of time, the systems have enabled us to make more timely patient management decisions through improved liaison. It has meant, for example, better oncology input into management thereby helping us to meet the Cancer Peer Review Guidelines. In addition there has been more input from the specialists from other sites who might ordinarily been unable to attend.”
 
This view is seconded by Mr Richard Steyn, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon and National Clinical Lead Cancer Modernisation: “Videoconferencing allows for earlier meetings and therefore quicker care,” he says. “It can also improve treatment by permitting more consultations which, in the past, may have been impossible.”
 
According to Bernie County, who is in charge of the Network: “It was the need to achieve the Peer Review quality of service measures that prompted the decision to investigate videoconferencing. Owing to the travel problems, some MDT Meetings were failing because of poor attendance, especially if the key member – the oncologist – had been unable to attend.”
Following an initial visit to Questmark by clinicians, two systems were shortlisted for further consideration. These were then set up in a real working environment in the Cancer Network and compared in a series of live tests with a full MDT meeting. The overwhelming choice was LifeSize due primarily to the quality of their high definition resolution, an important factor in looking at medical evidence.
 
General usage started in January 2007. The systems are now used for at least one MDT meeting every week. Heartlands and Solihull Hospitals routinely use them three times a week and, apart from the MDTs, the systems are being used for the wider benefit of all the establishments.
 
WolfVision VZ9 visualisers, with lightboxes for viewing large x-rays, are connected to each system, their high quality resolution being needed to show the grey shades of the x-rays and CT scans. Other inputs are taken from microscopes linked to the videoconferencing camera and from PCs; if required videos from endoscopes can also be shown.
 
Comments from the two clinicians interviewed for this article highlight their experiences of videoconferencing. Raji Ganesan has been impressed with the systems’ ease-of-use, though both she and Richard Steyn stressed the importance of training, citing microphone location and voice-direction as problem areas, together with a change in meeting culture and etiquette as important if the full potential is to be realised.

About LifeSize
LifeSize is the first company to develop and deliver high definition video communications products.  Founded in 2003 by industry veterans, LifeSize’s award winning solutions combine exceptional quality, user simplicity and administrator manageability to make video communications a productive, true-to-life experience.  LifeSize is headquartered in Austin, TX with subsidiaries in the U.K., Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore and has a network of channel partners in more than 20 countries.