The high transmissibility rate of Covid, obliged us to adapt and transform our symptomatic clinic to be able to continue diagnosing and treat breast cancer and at the same time protect patients and staff.Prior analysis of clinical activity suggests at least 80 per cent of patient attending breast clinics are either healthy or found to have benign conditions, identification of this group of patients ahead of time would allow assess and treat them safely with a telephone clinic consultation insteadOn this tenet we worked, in compliance to new and emerging guidance about breast cancer care during the pandemic from the Association of Breast Surgeons and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, to devise a novel vetting system for stratifying and prioritizing all new referral to out-patient clinics.All changes were discussed at MDTS. Adjustments and refinements were made as necessary due to the dynamic and evolving situation;changing guidance and staff availability due to illness, need for self-isolation and those shielding at home.Patients were stratified according to their history and symptoms and their likely cancer risk,.Patients with high risk of cancer were offered face-to-face consultation, those at low risk were offered telephone consultation.From 23rd March to 1st May 2020, we moved all possible patients to phone consultations. 299 new patients were vetted: 149 allocated phone appointment, 150 attended face-to-face clinics, of these 62 were diagnosed with breast cancer.Initial phone contact appears safe with low risk patients. This will maximize available resources and reduce the pressures imposed by two week waiting list clinics on the breast services.Covid-19 gave us the opportunity of demonstrating the strong, shared leadership existing in our group. The entire team proved able to adapt to different ways of working and embrace change, whilst continuing to innovate and thrive.
Leading change & the evolution of the breast clinic through the Covid-19 pandemic and into the future