The role of the MDC team for advanced disease is to coordinate and provide treatment and care to patients, and provide information to support the emotional, physical, practical, financial, spiritual and social needs of patients and their caregivers. The needs of patients with advanced disease, and their caregivers will need to be regularly assessed, as their needs will change over the course of their disease.
Other health professionals may be called upon at different times during the patient’s treatment course. For example, thoracic surgeons for pleural effusions, orthopaedic surgeons for an impending fracture or neurosurgeons for cord compression surgery.
- Example of multidisciplinary team membership: advanced disease
- Example of multidisciplinary team membership: advanced breast cancer
- Example of multidisciplinary team membership: advanced ovarian cancer
The patient’s general practitioner
The patient’s GP plays a pivotal role in the care planning for patients with advanced disease.