Quotes relating to themes from qualitative interviews with clinicians
| Collaboration and communication | “The nice thing about the meso MDT is that you do have the luxury of time. We probably discuss six to eight cases in that one hour slot…you will have a meso specialist nurse, you’ll generally have a palliative care physician. The radiologist that attends may have a better understanding of progression criteria in mesothelioma…I think a meso MDT, you do have a focus towards meso trials. Whereas if you just got meso cases in a lung cancer MDT, that sometimes gets missed.” (HCP1, Respiratory, TC1) |
| Evidence base and knowledge | “I think some of the needs are met well, some of the needs are not met well…In my view it’s a Cinderella cancer because it’s less common and there’s less research that goes into it than other types of cancer…But there is an unmet need in the sense that no treatments for mesothelioma are thought of as curative treatments, so there’s an unmet need to cure patients. There’s an unmet need to prevent the disease and there’s an unmet need to treat it and to cure it, yes. There are lots of unmet needs.” (HCP9, Oncology, DGH2) |
| Role of the clinician | “Within oncological, respiratory circles, there’s historically been a lot of nihilism in mesothelioma. That is slowly reversing with the many clinical trials that are going on…[But] there’s definitely nihilism outside of our specialist area…there’s a lack of knowledge and a historical sense of this is the worst diagnosis ever.” (HCP2, Respiratory, TC1) |
| Role of the patient | “I generally ask them to go away and think about it. They are aware there’s no cure. They’re aware of non-surgical options. They’re aware of surgical options…They’re all big undertakings in patients who are usually in their 70s. I think they really need to gather as much information as they can before they make that decision.” (HCP6, Surgery, DGH1) |
| Role of the specialist nurse | “I think that [the mesothelioma nurse] is one of the biggest beneficial roles to patients…Because the meso nurses can, not only keep an eye on all the meso patients, but they link in with the other nurses in the region. So, that’s another route for referral or knowledge of patients…Because sometimes the nurses know so much about what’s going on. They might not have an engaged clinician at the other end, they may. But that gives them another avenue to discuss patients who then can potentially be referred in or discussed…Our meso nurse keeps an eye on all the national trials, which are open, which are recruiting, which are not. And she’s really the advocate for the patient and pushing forward…The role is often not as appreciated as it should be.” (HCP, Oncology, TC1) |
| Impact of COVID-19 | “The trial options…have not been open. And we had a few patients that came back to us because everything came to a standstill for them. And it was a very hard thing, because this was a cancer that’s complex for patients from the start. And actually of course, when you’re under a trial team, the input and the energy is quite high. And so, to then come back from that to a service that is much more focussing on the palliative element of their situation has been a contrast for them.” (HCP17, Nursing, DGH1) |
DGH, district general hospital; HCP, healthcare professional; TC1, cancer centre.