Support for clinicians

We are accepting referrals for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. For patients starting or continuing cancer treatment, each case will be reviewed individually by an eMDT which can also involve the referring clinician.

For more information on how to refer a patient, please contact one of our referrer engagement managers REM@genesiscare.co.uk

• Breast cancers– you can also read our detailed radiotherapy protocol for operable invasive breast cancer here
• Urological malignancies
• Lower GI patients
• Upper GI malignancies
• Gynaecological malignancies
• Head and neck cancers
• Lung cancers
• Neurological malignancies
• Sarcomas

You can also access the adapted treatment protocols from the Royal College of Radiologists.

MDTs

We appreciate that our surgical and oncology teams will face difficult decisions throughout the pandemic. We have accelerated the roll-out of our eMDT platform to ensure all best practice protocols are maintained. This system facilitates clinician peer review and combines videoconferencing and data technology to enable remote collaboration in a secure environment that tracks the patient journey.

Diagnostics

We are always looking to collaborate with talented consultants. We can help you build your private practice with practice management systems, website and marketing support and free consultation rooms.

We welcome requests from individuals and academic institutions to access our state-of-the-art equipment and clinical support for treatment and research. To find out more about practising privileges or research opportunities, please contact us here REM@genesiscare.co.uk.

Can my patient transfer to GenesisCare for their treatment?

We often receive enquiries from clinicians and patients directly who are anxious to continue cancer treatment without delay. Typically, our patients are funded through private medical insurance but during this time we have reduced our prices to make it more accessible to those who want to fund the cost of their own treatment.

What is an example of an advanced technology that could benefit patients now?

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) enables treatment of a number of tumour types using a small number of fractions – five or less. This hypofractionated approach is non-invasive and has obvious benefits in limiting treatment episodes or avoiding surgery. We have significant expertise and capacity across our network to treat lung, pancreas and liver, brain, prostate and oligometastatic disease (all cancers) with SABR. We offer these hypofractionated radiotherapy treatments where possible and may delay any chemotherapy that will compromise the patient’s immune system, putting them at higher risk of becoming unwell from respiratory illness. We’re working with some of the country’s leading SABR specialists and we are ready to treat patients alongside our existing cases. We are also treating patients for pancreas and lung on our MRIdian MR linac system in Oxford.

Who decides your treatment protocols and how do you ensure treatment protocols are safe?

Our clinical reference groups and UK Leadership Team work closely with the NHS, RCR, ESTRO and other surgical and oncology associations to ensure that our revised clinical protocols are aligned with national clinical guidelines.

All patient referrals for new protocols are reviewed by our clinical reference groups and clinical advisory team to ensure compliance with eligibility criteria.

Will you be advising patients to continue with treatment?

Clinicians should continue to discuss the risk and benefits of having treatment at this time with patients. Informed consent is required and should be clearly noted.

We have prepared a summary of scenarios exploring absolute survival benefit and potential risks in a variety of common chemotherapy. This is available here.

Will you continue chemotherapy treatment (solid and haem cancers) for all patients in vulnerable groups (as defined by NICE guidelines)?

Our clinical reference groups and UK Leadership Team work closely with the NHS, NICE, ESMO and other oncology and haematology associations to ensure that our revised chemotherapy protocols are aligned with national clinical guidelines for solid and haematological malignancies.

We have therefore revised our protocols to include:

• Switching to less toxic chemotherapy protocols
• Offering fewer cycles of chemotherapy with longer intervals if safe to do so
• Offering GCSF to all patients at high risk of immunosuppression whose chemotherapy treatment is deemed life-saving by the MDT and are well and willing to receive
• Continue clinical trial treatments if deemed life-saving by the MDT and patients are well and willing to receive

Typically, how long does it take to start a course of treatment from referral?

At GenesisCare we receive referrals from two main pathways:

1. Our diagnostic clinics
2. Directly from our surgeons and oncologists

We endeavour to treat patients within five to seven days from referral. These timings depend on whether we have all the histology results and relevant clinical dataset available for the cancer MDTs to make treatment decisions and to comply with regulatory requirements such as IR(ME)R 2017, otherwise we operate on full workforce capacity in terms of radiotherapy planners, physicists, therapy radiographers and chemotherapy nurses.

Will you be treating COVID-19 patients?

Wherever safe to do so, patients will have their treatment delayed until after their symptoms have resolved and isolation period is over. However, there will be occasions where it is clinically necessary for treatment to continue.

Will you still be providing spacer insertions under general anaesthetic for prostate radiotherapy treatment?

Your patients can access spacer insertions under local anaesthetic at:

• GenesisCare Windsor: Consultant Urologists Mr Philip Charlesworth, Mr Marc Laniado and Mr Neil Haldar are all credentialed to provide the service in an outpatient clinic
• GenesisCare Oxford: Consultant Urologists Mr Simon Brewster and Mr Tom Leslie
• GenesisCare Maidstone: Consultant Urologist Mr Hide Yamamoto
• GenesisCare Cambridge: Consultant Urologist Mr Christof Kastner
• GenesisCare Milton Keynes: Consultant Urologist Mr Tom Leslie

Alternatively:

• Patients have the option to continue with external beam radiotherapy without spacer insertion or
• Suitable patients can be referred for 5-fraction prostate radiotherapy on the MRIdian linac at GenesisCare Oxford, where spacers are NOT required.