The service began in March 2020, with Mr Mark Watson, Consultant Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeon at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH), establishing cancer screening clinics just prior to the first COVID-19 lockdown. For the past number of years, general ENT sessions have been run on site, however without consultant presence and with diagnostic equipment that was edging towards obsolescence. As such, many patients seen at Montagu Hospital would often require to take a trip to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for further examination before relevant treatment could begin, if necessary.
Mr Watson takes up the story: “After a break of working at Montagu Hospital for some 22 years, I established cancer screening clinics early in 2020. As the equipment being used was somewhat long in the tooth, together with Mr Muzzammil Nusrath, Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon, we devised a business case to purchase a modern, high definition laryngeal endoscopy system, which could be used for both ENT and the established Oral and Maxillo-Facial service on site. Due to the pandemic, the equipment took a little longer than usual to arrive, but it was finally put in place in July 2021.
“Working with Sharon Woodward, Sister within the Outpatients Department at Montagu Hospital, we managed to reconfigure the clinical space we had, co-locating myself with Mr Nusrath, ensuring we both had easy access to the endoscope for our respective clinics. The final piece of the jigsaw came in January 2022, as we increased the number of Head and Neck nursing colleagues on site, with specialist presence every Tuesday.”
In an effort to reduce the backlog created by COVID-19-related restrictions, as well to as to improve local cancer care and diagnostics, late last year, Montagu Hospital was selected to host one of a pair of ‘Community Diagnostic Centres’ (CDC) within South Yorkshire, following a £3 million investment from the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System (ICS).
Related to this work, and in addition to the new Head and Neck clinics within the Mexborough site, since January 2022 colleagues at the Trust have worked hard to place both an MRI scanner and CT scanner on site, further enhancing the Trust’s diagnostic capacity. In all, the Community Diagnostic Centre will be developed within three phases – while phase one includes the provisions of MRI and CT scanning capacity, the second which will see further investment and will include ultrasound scanning and digestive tract endoscopy capabilities installed at Montagu Hospital, alongside other improvements, while for the third phase phlebotomy and cardiorespiratory services are being explored.
Mr Watson concludes: “In just two years, we have gone from a somewhat outdated service, to now having a well-equipped specialist multi-disciplinary Head and Neck Cancer clinic, fit for the 21st century and befitting of our local communities. Best of all, residents of Mexborough and the Dearne Valley can access this service at Montagu Hospital, without the need to travel to Doncaster Royal Infirmary. This has been achieved at minimal cost due to redeployment of staff and resources and, I believe, shows the very best of what the NHS can achieve, when we put our mind to the task.”
Since March 2020, there have been over 2,000 patients have been seen within the Ear Nose and Throat outpatient clinics running at Montagu Hospital.