Main pic: Dr Janice Richmond receiving her Irish Cancer Society Senior Researcher of the Year 2023 award. Photo: Andres Poveda.
A hugely successful oncology research project at Letterkenny University Hospital could be rolled out nationally.
The primary goal of the initiative was to develop and investigate the potential transition of care from the hospital to community settings for patients receiving oral anti-cancer medications.
According to the hospital, the possibility of this had long been discussed by the Oncology Day Ward staff, who believed that there was a better way to care for these patients.
The initiative is being led by Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP), Dr Janice Richmond. ANPs are the highest level of clinical experts in the nursing profession in Ireland today.
Dr Richmond was recently awarded Senior Researcher of the Year by the Irish Cancer Society for her work on this project.
Another benefit of the Letterkenny trial is that it frees up hospital capacity in the Oncology Day Ward for patients who need to attend to receive acute therapies.
“Overall, the model has huge potential for national implementation,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.
The pilot of reviewing patients receiving oral anti-cancer medications in a community setting commenced in January 2022. The team analysed the safety and efficacy of this new model of care and also investigated its acceptability to staff and patients. A total of 37 patients were enrolled on the trial.
Throughout the 4-month pilot, 152 patient assessments were carried out by the ANP Oncology ( Janice Richmond), usually in Scally Place. The benefit to patients is shorter waiting times, ease of access and continuity of care while the hospital benefits from additional capacity at the Oncology Day Unit.
LUH Oncology Research Team members, Mary Grace Kelly, Janice Richmond and Alison Johnstone.
Speaking about the potential of the trial, Dr Richmond said transitioning to a community-based oral anti-cancer medication (OAM) model would be a radical change for oncology in the Irish healthcare system.
“The feedback we received from patients throughout this study was very clear; patients expressed overwhelmingly positive experience of the new model of care,” Dr Richmond said.
“It was viewed as being holistic, comprehensive, organised and uninterrupted. With an integrated approach and with support and access to the wider hospital-based Multi-Disciplinary Team, there is huge scope for this model to be implemented in other regions providing a similar positive experience for patients.”
Olive Gallagher, Director of Nursing for the Saolta Group Cancer Managed Clinical and Academic Network (MCAN) praised the work adding: “Janice’s work is a key enabler of the NCCP Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) Model of Care and plays a critical role in creating additional capacity in the oncology/ haematology day ward, it demonstrates the real value of nurse led research in shaping future healthcare delivery for our patients.”
The project was supported by the Irish Cancer Society, the Health Research board, National Cancer Control Programme, HSE Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services Director.
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