Oxford University Hospitals and Barco team up to fight cancer

Kortrijk, Belgium – 6 February 2019. Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) is trialing clinical collaboration technology from Barco for its Multi-disciplinary Cancer Conferences. The primary focus of this cooperation is to streamline the preparation, management and follow-up of these meetings. With the Barco Synergi™ solution, preparation for the conference is more efficient, the meeting experience is seamless for both local and remote participants, and critical follow-up actions are handled promptly. 

Cancer conferences for quality care 

Multi-disciplinary Cancer Conferences (also called Tumor Boards or Multi-disciplinary Team Meetings) are designed to ensure the best patient outcomes by bringing the clinical care team together to discuss all applicable diagnostic tests, suitable treatment options and treatment recommendations for each cancer patient. 

Multi-disciplinary Team Meetings (MDTs) in cancer are the most expensive meetings per hour in the NHS due to the wide range of experts involved, and the need to bring together a wide variety of information, including patient records, imaging, pathology slides, cancer staging and genetic testing. 

Nick Maynard, the OUH Lead for Cancer, said: “We have worked with Barco to develop a tool that can collect and organize the information and data so it is easily presented and understood. It will also enable the rapid transfer, by automated electronic notification, of the outcome of the MDT discussion and decisions made to all staff involved in the patient’s care.” 

About Barco Synergi 

The Barco Synergi™ technology addresses the challenge of pulling together all the relevant patient case information for discussion during cancer conferences. Barco’s cloud-based software solution gathers all relevant patient data, documents the stage of the patient's tumor, and makes it easy to share this information with the entire care team. 

It provides an intuitive, fast and secure way to share any images and other patient information from any workstation with the team, eliminating the need to transfer images from one site to the other for the sake of the meeting. “In-meeting approval” of treatment recommendation by the meeting chair and automated upload of the treatment outcome to the Cerner Millennium® EHR, results in quick scheduling of the treatment for the patients, thus reducing patient wait times. 

Huge efficiency gains

Continuous visibility of all this critical patient information, as well as the recommended outcome of every patient being discussed, enables flexible planning of every cancer team member around the patient resulting in huge efficiency gains. 

Maynard adds: “We believe this will lead to not only a significant improvement in the efficiency of the MDT meetings, but also a significant reduction in the time between referral of the patient and commencement of treatment. This tool also records and analyses MDT performance and outcomes in real-time, enabling us to identify service improvements rapidly.” 

"Barco is delighted that its Synergi solution will help care teams at OUH spend their time efficiently during multi-disciplinary cancer conferences" stated Anish Patankar, Vice President Healthcare Growth at Barco. "Ultimately, this will help clinicians and physicians focus on the most important task at hand - dedicating time to core patient care." 

The trialing of the new system has been supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, which aims to translate medical innovation into clinical benefits for patients. 

About Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) 

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) is one of the largest acute teaching trusts in the UK, with a national and international reputation for the excellence of its services and its role in patient care, teaching and research. 

The Trust supports world-leading research programs in cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s through its designation as one of the UK’s five comprehensive biomedical centers. It works in close partnership with the University of Oxford and is a leading center for cancer, neurosciences, diabetes, genetics and many other fields. Research themes of particular strength are: cancer, cardiovascular science, diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, infection and immunology, musculoskeletal science, neuroscience and reproduction and development. 

This brings together academic research expertise with clinical teams to translate medical science into better healthcare treatments. Our patients benefit from world-class discovery and innovation supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, a partnership between the Trust and the University of Oxford, funded by the National Institute for Health Research. 

The Trust employs over 12,000 staff and consists of four hospitals: the Churchill Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital and Nuffield Orthopedic Centre in Oxford and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. On 1 October 2015 the Trust was awarded Foundation status and became Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. www.ouh.nhs.uk 

About The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) 

NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre is based at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and run in partnership with the University of Oxford. 

The NIHR is the nation's largest funder of health and care research. The NIHR: 

• Funds, supports and delivers high quality research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care 

• Engages and involves patients, carers and the public in order to improve the reach, quality and impact of research 

• Attracts, trains and supports the best researchers to tackle the complex health and care challenges of the future 

• Invests in world-class infrastructure and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services 

• Partners with other public funders, charities and industry to maximize the value of research to patients and the economy 

The NIHR was established in 2006 to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. In addition to its national role, the NIHR commissions applied health research to benefit the poorest people in low- and middle-income countries, using Official Development Assistance funding.

About Barco 

Barco designs technology to enable bright outcomes around the world. Seeing beyond the image, we develop visualization and collaboration solutions to help you work together, share insights, and wow audiences. Our focus is on three core markets: Enterprise (from meeting and control rooms to corporate spaces), Healthcare (from the radiology department to the operating room), and Entertainment (from movie theaters to live events and attractions). In 2017, we realized sales of 1.085 billion euro. We have a team of 3,600 employees, located in 90 countries, whose passion for technology is captured in 400 granted patents. For more information, visit us on www.barco.com, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or like us on Facebook.