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Cancer care
Ottawa Hospital, Elekta forge
long-term partnership
OTTAWA – Elekta and The Ottawa
Hospital have embarked on a decade-long mutual support project that will
create an advanced cancer treatment centre. Part of The Ottawa Hospital,
The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre (TOHCC), will be equipped with
radiation therapy systems, as well as workflow enhancing software and
treatment planning systems, enabling TOHCC to provide sophisticated
therapeutic services in a chartless, paperless clinical environment.
Among the largest Canadian cancer centres, TOHCC has undergone
extraordinary growth in its cancer management capacity over the last
decade, and steadily has increased its complement of Elekta radiation
treatment systems during that period. Its latest expansion to a new site
at Queensway Carleton Hospital presented the hospital with an
opportunity to evolve into a North American leader with global
potential.
"We needed to identify a provider with whom we could partner for
long-term sustainability and future innovation in radiation therapy,"
said Greg Doiron, TOHCC Clinical Director. "We determined Elekta was
best positioned to move us into our next development phase and help us
achieve our long-term objectives, in addition to our short-term need,
which is improving patients’ access to healthcare."
Advanced technology
Under the partnership agreement, The Ottawa Hospital will acquire four
Elekta Synergy treatment systems, two to be sited at The Ottawa
Hospital’s General Campus and two to be operated at Queensway Carleton
Hospital site, when the cancer program starts in late 2009. "Our goal is
to use the Elekta Synergy systems to perform advanced methods, such as
Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and Intensity Modulated Radiation
Therapy (IMRT) as soon as possible in appropriate cases," Doiron said.
The Cancer Centre also will acquire MOSAIQ software solutions. MOSAIQ RO
will manage radiation therapy simulation, planning, setup, verification,
delivery, review and analysis. Integrated with MOSAIQ RO is the MOSAIQ
image-enabled electronic medical record (EMR), which supports the cancer
care team by uniting diverse systems and devices. These products will
form the complete information technology infrastructure to streamline
the TOHCC’s growing radiation oncology service.
Ottawa harnesses STRATEGIQ consultative services
The Ottawa Hospital’s substantial equipment acquisitions are fundamental
to the partnership agreement, but they are not the linchpin to TOHCC’s
success, Doiron said. To maximize TOHCC’s clinical and operational
value, The Ottawa Hospital subjected their existing centre to an
intensive process review and restructuring through STRATEGIQ
consultative tools and services. Several Elekta representatives went to
The Ottawa Hospital beginning in late 2008 and started the initial
process review that carried on into early 2009. "They mapped our
processes in detail," he explained. "The analysis covered everything
from patient referral to the cancer centre, the patients’ care and their
discharge. Everything was documented in a process flow. This allowed
Elekta staff to identify business and clinical practices that we could
improve and also helped us prioritize what we needed to successfully
launch and operate the Queensway Carleton site’s service."
TOHCC experience will spur Elekta technology development
The Elekta-TOHCC partnership agreement will provide Elekta with a wealth
of clinical data on the performance and effectiveness of its technology,
with the aim of using this experience and knowledge to make Elekta’s
offerings more effective and efficient. "Combining our technological and
clinical resources in The Ottawa Hospital-Elekta partnership agreement
is far more than a business transaction," said Gerry Hogue, Vice
President and General Manager, Elekta Canada. "This agreement represents
the formation of a major, collaborative strategic relationship that we
predict will not only benefit the respective partners long into the
future, but also will greatly increase access to and increase the
quality of cancer management for thousands of patients."
About The Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Centre
TOHCC (formerly the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre) is a cancer treatment
and research facility providing cancer services to patients in Ottawa
and Eastern Ontario. It is part of The Ottawa Hospital, which serves the
healthcare needs of the 1.2 million residents of Ottawa and Eastern
Ontario and is one of the largest teaching and research facilities in
Canada.
About Elekta
Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and
clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company
develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning
systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow
enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.
Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing
intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to
both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong
and even save patient lives, making the future possible today. Today,
Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 5,000
hospitals globally, and every day more than 100,000 patients receive
diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with the help of a solution from the
Elekta Group. Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The
corporate headquarter is located in Stockholm, Sweden. For more
information about Elekta, please visit
www.elekta.com.
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