The role of the MDT Coordinator is to support multidisciplinary team meetings for cancer care. Coordinators prepare for meetings, record discussions, and collect mandatory data on waiting times and patient outcomes. They ensure the efficient running of often fast-paced meetings and act as the main point of contact between the MDT and various clinical teams and databases. Outside of meetings, coordinators manually input a large amount of data from different systems and build relationships across the cancer care network to facilitate information sharing. Effective coordination requires managing workload and coverage for multiple specialties with varying requirements.

1. The Role
of the
MDT Coordinator
Laura Throssell

2. NHS Cancer Plan (2000)
‘the care of all patients with cancer should
be formally reviewed by a specialist team’.
‘all patients have the benefit of the range of
expert advice needed for high quality
care.’

3. Rise of the MDT Coordinator
• To meet the commitment set out in the National Cancer Plan, multi
disciplinary team (MDT) meetings per specialty were set up. These mainly
run on a weekly basis
• The introduction of MDT meetings established the need for an MDT
Coordinator role.
• Core MDT Team Members include:
– Surgeons
– Physicians
– Oncologists
– Radiologists,
– Histo-pathologists
– CNSs
– MDT Coordinator

4. MDT Meeting
Before- Preparation
• Compile agenda
• Patient notes/ electronic notes
• Proformas (patient record of discussion)
• Download radiology images
• Collect histology slides and reports
During
• Live recording of patient discussion and treatment plan
• Operate visual display equipment and video conferencing links
• Prompt for mandatory data items (TNM staging and performance status)
After- Outcomes
• Circulate outcomes of patient discussions
• Update the cancer database

5. Successful discussion
• MDT meetings can be very fast paced with some
discussing over 50 patients per weekly meeting
• To ensure the smooth running and efficiency of the
meeting MDT Coordinators must be highly
organised, dynamic and work with an excellent
level of detail and accuracy
• They are recognised as a core member of the
MDT team by the National Quality Surveillance
Programme (formally Peer Review)

6. What does an MDT Coordinator
do outside of the MDT Meeting

7. DATA
(………….. And lots of it!)

8. Cancer Waiting Time Standards
(CWT)
• 62-Day (Urgent GP Referral To Treatment) Wait For First Treatment: All Cancers 85%
• 62-Day Wait For First Treatment From Consultant Screening Service Referral: All Cancers 90%
• 31-Day (Diagnosis To Treatment) Wait For First Treatment: All Cancers 96%
• 31-Day Wait For Second Or Subsequent Treatment: Anti Cancer Drug Treatments 98%
• 31-Day Wait For Second Or Subsequent Treatment: Surgery 94%
• 31-Day Wait For Second Or Subsequent Treatment: Radiotherapy Treatments 94%
• All Cancer Two Week Wait 93%
• Two Week Wait for Symptomatic Breast Patients (Cancer Not initially Suspected) 93%

9. Mandatory Data Items
Cancer Waiting Time Standards
(CWT)
• 62 day first treatments (2ww referrals)
• 31 day first treatments (2ww, urgent, routine)
• 31 day subsequent treatments
– Surgery,
– Drug treatments
– Radiotherapy
• 62 day target: Screening patients
• 62 day target: Consultant upgrades
National Cancer Audits
• Colorectal: NBOCAP
• Upper GI: NOGCA
• Head & Neck: HANA (DAHNO)
• Prostate: NPCA
COSD
(Cancer outcomes and services dataset)
• TNM staging
• Performance status
• CNS present at diagnosis
National Quality Surveillance
Program
(Peer review)
• MDT members attendance

10. Manual Process
• Worcester Acute Trust use Somerset Cancer Register to collect and
upload patient data to the national systems and cancer registries.
(Other systems include Infoflex, Dendrite and in-house cancer databases)
• The Cancer Database is updated live during MDT so patient
outcomes can be clinically validated by the MDT lead, all other
information is inputted mainly by the MDT Coordinator (some further
information is added by CNSs, AHPs, 2WW booking clerks)
• Data collection can be a very manual process
• Mandatory data items are available on a number of different
systems that don’t automatically interface with the Cancer database.

11. Forming relationships
Ensuring a 2 way flow of information
MDT
Coordinator
MDT Team
Members
Tertiary
Centres
Cancer
Team
Supportive
Services
Oncology
Directorate
Managers/
Leads

12. No ‘I’ in Team
• The MDT Coordinator is an independent role required to manage their own workload
• The role also forms part or a team within Cancer Services
• As a department Cancer Services provides MDT Coordinator support to 10
specialities:
 Breast
 Colorectal
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Head & Neck
 Lung
 Palliative Care
 Skin
 Upper GI
 Urology

13. Building the Team
• Non Clinical role (only one in the room)
– Learning new terminology
– Understanding different site specific patient pathways and referral routes
– Learning investigations required
– Understanding diagnoses
– Understanding jargon and abbreviations
• Training
– Online courses
– In house training
• Skill/ experience mix
– Able to cover/ move between specialities
• Equitable role
– All team members confident and able to complete all tasks required
• Sharing knowledge and learning from mistakes
– Keeping up to date with national guidance, changes is process or procedures bottle necks
and in pathways

14. Managing the Team
• Cover arrangements
– Buddy system
– Defined cover roles
• Consistency
– Core member/ key relationships
– Expertise
– Clear contact details
• Flexible working
– Part time
– Full time
– Flexible working
• Different Requirements
– MDT meetings can start early, finish late, happen during lunch or a morning or afternoon session
– Variation in the volume of patients discussed per speciality
– Variation in the number of 2WW referrals received and amount of patients to be tracked through the
pathway

15. Can one model fit all?

16. Things to consider……
• Provide and maintain a robust service to the MDT team
– 100% MDT Coordinator attendance
– Adequate and efficient cover
• Ensure a fair split of workload tasks
– To support knowledge, understanding and personal development
– Do all coordinators have to attend regular MDT meetings?
• Provide a dynamic, well trained team of MDT Coordinators
– Versatile and experienced
• Maintain a well motivated team and good work culture
– The ‘face’ of Cancer Services
• Support all specialites equally
– Some specialities have a higher volume of patients
– Some have many varied and complicated diagnostic and treatment pathways
– Some have varied referral routes to tertiary treatment centres
• Maintain a good reputation for Cancer Services

17. Headache ?

18. Group Exercise
Scenario
Cancer Services has to provide MDT Co-
ordinator provision for the Breast and Head &
Neck MDT teams.
As well as co-ordinating the MDT meetings, this
provision also includes all the relevant MDT
prep, data collection and audit data collection.

19. Group Exercise
Task
You have 2 MDT Co-Ordinators,
• Co-Ordinator A = working full time, 37.5 hours per week
• Co-Ordinator B = working 22.5 hours per week
All the tasks listed on the instruction sheet need to be assigned to an MDT Co-
ordinator to support the two MDT teams.
How would you go about sharing and assigning the tasks to ensure adequate
and equitable workload is assigned both teams?

20. Group Exercise
Green Tasks: Head & Neck
Purple Tasks: Breast
On a separate flip chart sheet please indicate any
problems you faced in making your decisions, or
other things to consider.
You have 15 minutes to work on this activity within
your groups.