Abstract P5-14-09: Integration of primary care practitioners in a breast multidisciplinary team meeting- A pilot study

Primary care practitioners are key to integrated patient care, as they often have an established relationship with patient and family, with knowledge of comorbidities and psychosocial factors. They can encourage compliance with cancer treatments and manage transition from acute care through survivorship. Communication with primary care however has often been unsatisfactory, with information not helpful to that practitioner or not provided in a timely manner. We recruited a general practitioner (GP) to attend the weekly breast cancer multidisciplinary meeting, with a responsibility to make contact with the primary care practitioner of patients presented prior to the meeting, so that relevant information from a primary care perspective could be taken into consideration for team deliberations. This also meant that the primary doctor was aware the patient was being discussed. Recommendations were fed back to that doctor after the meeting so that information was timely, and, being given by a peer, more useful. The GP attended 12 consecutive MDTs where 105 patients were discussed. In 55% contact was able to be made with the patient9s GP prior to the meeting. This was perceived as not usually changing management plans, but reinforced known medical and social concerns. Feedback to the patients GP was regarded favourably, with reported greater confidence in managing the patient, particularly those with complex needs, as well as improving hospital to community communication in general. This pilot has shown that it is feasible to include primary care practitioners in a multidisciplinary meeting and improve interdisciplinary communication. Citation Format: Pitcher ME, Hornung I, Rangarajan P. Integration of primary care practitioners in a breast multidisciplinary team meeting- A pilot study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-14-09.