Background: Currently in Ireland, there is no set Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCP) pathway for Head and Neck Cancer patients. HSCPs at Galway University Hospital (GUH) HNC treatment team were awarded National HSCP office funding to evaluate their current service provision. A flowchart was developed to depict various steps in this research pathway.
Methods: The Macmillan Cancer Rehabilitation Pathway (UK) was selected as the comparative standard. This evaluation is a multidisciplinary project by fulltime working clinicians, and a funded Research Assistant. A flowchart was created to map the project: diagrammatic representation to identify essential steps, organise tasks chronologically, and allow for identification and resolution of difficulties eg. duplications.
It is this process map that we present here. The flowchart outlines the 2 prongs of the project:
– Audit tool development, subjects’ chart review, the pilot and the modification of the audit tool and the rollout of the audit.
– Semi-structured interviews with a pilot group of patients for their perspective on the service provision.
Conclusion: This is the first allocation of the National HSCP Office funding for research of this kind, so having a pathway facilitating value for money is an important outcome. This quality improvement flowchart is an opportunity to discuss a novel HSCP-based service review, audit outcomes and patient’s perspectives.
Karen Malherbe1, Aoife Burke2, Deirdre O’Dowd2, Meghan Carter2, Fionnuala Ginty2, Sandra Brandon1, Deirdre Walsh3, Katie Cunningham3
1 Department of Speech & Language Therapy, Galway University Hospital, Galway
2 Department of Physiotherapy, Galway University Hospital, Galway
3 Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Galway University Hospital, Galway