North West Cancer service

Situated on the hospital site at Altnagelvin, Londonderry, the North-West Cancer centre has introduced self-service kiosks and patient information screens.

The new unit increases radiotherapy capacity in Northern Ireland, and improves patient travelling times by providing more locally accessible services. The unit serves a wide catchment area. Radiotherapy services at Altnagelvin Hospital will provide cancer treatment for patients from the entire Western Trust area, and from Coleraine, Moyle, Ballymoney and County Donegal.  It will be available to a population of over half a million people living on both sides of the border.

The key Savience modules Clarity, Check-in and Clarion will support patients attending for Radiotherapy, Oncology and Haematology appointments. Radiotherapy appointments are held on the Varian system, whilst Oncology and Haematology arte held on PAS. HL7 integration provides the messaging between the various systems.

Patients are presented with a bespoke kiosk interface which recognises which service that patient is attending, updating the appropriate records.

A new variation of Clarion, the patient call and information system has been produced for the Cancer Centre. This allows patients to select, at the kiosk during the check-in process, the waiting areas most appropriate for them. In turn, this updates the Clarion patient tracker ensuring that clinic staff know where any patient is at any stage of their clinic visit.