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Every patient now who's diagnosed with any cancer
should be discussed in one of these MDTs,
multi disciplinary team meetings
so that there is input or the option of input
from all modalities, all treatment or specialities
so that you do not have a surgeon who thinks they know
how best to treat this patient
and speaks only of surgery when there is another option,
be it radiotherapy, chemotherapy or whatever.
And that way we learn from the surgeons,
the surgeons learn from us,
the nurses teach us various things as well and vice versa.
It is a truly good environment for the patient as a whole and for us.
We have a big team.
There are many urologists and we have a meeting once a week together
which is attended by my colleagues, the other oncologists
who are involved with urological cancer,
the surgeons, the pathologists who review the pathology
from the surgical specimens,
and the x-ray doctors,
the radiologists who have taken the diagnostic x-rays
to define new tumours and the extent of them
to help in the discussion about how to treat these patients.
Also attending those meetings are the nurse specialists
who are involved from the very beginning in the diagnosis
and handing over of information
and being available to answer supplementary questions
and seeing the patient through their journey
in terms of their cancer diagnosis and treatment.
And also at those meetings are research nurses
who remind us which trials may be suitable for certain types of cancers
and things like that.
When you have a good team like that, it's very enjoyable.
It sort of influences where you want to end up practising.