The Scottish Mesothelioma Network is a specialist team of experts who can provide patients with high quality clinical care, information and support and access to potentially life-changing clinical trials wherever they live in the country.
The new service will provide patients with a dedicated Mesothelioma Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), who will provide enhanced support locally for patients and carers. Patients will also have a dedicated Mesothelioma Lead Clinician to improve clinical care and access to clinical trials.
The teams based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Tayside and Grampian will develop individual treatment plans for each patient which will be reviewed at weekly national Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings. Each CNS and Clinical Lead will dial into the weekly MDT meetings to represent patients and feedback clear, high-quality management plans and clinical trial information.
This will improve the quality and speed of information given to patients and carers and help to ensure care can be delivered as close to home as possible. It will also ensure anyone affected by this disease now has access to expert discussion and opinion, standard diagnostic and care pathways, full clinical trial portfolio, and mesothelioma Quality Performance Indicators.
Mesothelioma UK is working in partnership with Macmillan and will be working with local NHS boards across Scotland to fund and deliver this service which will transform the care and support for people affected by mesothelioma in Scotland. The country has some of the highest rates of the disease in the world so this new service will have a great impact.
