Experiences of general practitioners participating in oncology meetings with specialists to support GP-led survivorship care; an interview study from the Netherlands

Abstract

Background: Due to ageing, increasing cancer incidence and improved treatment, the number of survivors of cancer increases. To overcome the growing demand for hospital care survivorship by the involvement of the general practitioner (GP) has been suggested. Dutch GPs started a project to offer survivorship care to their patients with the help of monthly oncology meetings with hospital specialists.Objectives: To evaluate the experiences of GPs with monthly oncology meetings in a GP-practice to support GP-led survivorship care of colon cancer patients.Methods: This is a qualitative study in primary care centres in a region in the Netherlands around one hospital. GPs were recruited from practices organizing monthly oncology meetings with hospital specialists. Ten of 15 participating GPs were interviewed until saturation. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and two independent researchers analysed the data.Results: The oncology meetings and individual care plans attributed to a feeling of shared responsibility for the patients by the GP and the specialist. The meetings helped the GPs to be informed about the patients in the diagnostic and treatment phase, which was followed by a clear moment of transfer from hospital to primary care. GPs were better equipped to treat comorbidity and were more confident in providing survivorship care. Due to lack of reimbursement for survivorship care, the internal motivation of the GP must high.Conclusion: The oncology meetings fulfil the need for information and communication. Close cooperation between GPs and oncology specialists appears to be an essential factor for GPs to value GP-led survivorship care positively.

Health care provider and patient preparedness for alternative colorectal cancer follow-up; a review

“…Besides that, GPs stated that adequate information and support from specialists e.g., could make them more willing to be more involved in follow-up care. Some GPs preferred a shared follow-up trajectory in which support by a specialist is provided [51,55,64,68]. Despite a high level of willingness to participate further in follow-up, GPs had several objections against a central role for GPs.…”

“…Close cooperation between GPs and oncology specialists appears to be an essential factor for GPs to value GP-led survivorship care positively. Due to lack of reimbursement for survivorship care in some countries, the internal motivation of the individual GP must be high [40,41,47,48,50,52,64,65,68,73].…”

Adapting patients' oncological treatment through remote participation of general practitioners in multi-disciplinary consultation meetings: A feasibility study

“…There was no initial selection of GPs since all GPs whose patient cases were discussed in the MCMs were contacted, the study was free of selection bias. Some studies have highlighted the value of involving the GP in managing the cancer patient earlier before announcing the cancer diagnosis by the oncologist, particularly in MCMs [ 8 , 12 , 18 , 20 , 21 ]. They showed an improvement in communication between volunteer GPs and oncologists as well as participant satisfaction.…”

“…This first stage is crucial, but it requires considerable administrative organisation (preliminary collection of patient cases and a telephone call to each GP). The willingness of GPs to take part in MCMs has been reported in the literature [ 8 , 20 , 23 ], showing the relevance of GPs' presence in MCMs [ 8 , 21 ]. They willingly participated in our study (61%), but heavy workload, the difficulty of attending [ 14 ], logistic or organisational issues, and communication or information problems are all potential barriers to their participation [ 13 ].…”

Adverse events of targeted therapies reported by patients with cancer treated in primary care

“…For example, lists of AEs specific to ongoing TT could be sent by the oncologist to the GP to support primary care management [32]. Or some GPs could participate in team meetings to ensure continuity between the oncologist and follow-up in primary care [33,34].…”