Considerable work is being undertaken by jurisdictions to develop a means to report radiotherapy waiting times at a national level. Currently the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria (DHHS) monitors radiotherapy waiting times via elements within the Victorian Radiotherapy Minimum Dataset (VRMDS). This analysis is limited by the consistency with which services report the date in which the patient is deemed “ready for care” (RFC). Furthermore, this measure does not reflect the overall wait a patient may experience across their treatment pathway.
The pathway for patients undergoing radiotherapy after local excision of breast cancer is well defined and can be used to evaluate the time between treatment modalities. Using admitted data collected through the Victorian Admitted Episode Dataset (VAED) linked to state-wide radiotherapy activity (VRMDS) the aim of this investigation is to calculate the time points between radiotherapy and the patients’ preceding treatment modalities. This measure will incorporate the time intervals associated with referrals and initial consultations to radiation oncology services that has previously proved difficult to capture.
Using 2010/11 radiotherapy activity, 1170 radiotherapy patients were linked to an admission relating to an excision of a lesion (excluding re-excisions & mastectomy patients). The median time to radiotherapy was 9 weeks from patients receiving surgery alone and 5 weeks post chemotherapy. The results highlighted inconsistencies between waiting time reported from RFC date alone.
The linked data provides an alternative means to calculate time to the commencement of radiotherapy following surgery and chemotherapy and facilitates an assessment of waiting times based on a clinical treatment pathway. This investigation highlighted the necessity for services to report RFC consistently and serves to validate data reported in the department held databases.
Note: The data linkage is currently being reviewed and the submission of this oral presentation is subject to its validation.