“This was less than ideal because the overloading of SBAH resulted in tremendously long queues and delays which impacted negatively on effective patient management. For instance, in 2010 SBAH saw 12 000 patients per annum in their unit, and in 2016 that figure had doubled to 24 000.
“This clearly shows that the demand for cancer treatment is increasing,” added Ramokgopa.
Understandably, many patients referred for Pet suffer from anxiety that has been found to affect the image quality and often result in a false positive, which impacts the diagnosis and quality of care. To address this challenge, the new solution transforms the experience by customising both the uptake and scanning room to create a comfortable and calming environment for patients by using technology as a positive distraction in a time it’s needed most.
The immersive, multi-sensorial experience, can lead to greater involvement from patients in their own therapy, reduced anxiety and increased comfort, contribute to higher patient satisfaction, and even a possible reduction in procedure time.
“In today’s complex care environment, delivering high-quality critical care demands new approaches and thinking. We know that there are no simple solutions to the complex realities associated with oncology care, which is why innovation drives us to push the boundaries that are standing in the way of organising healthcare around the patient to deliver better outcomes,” said Ntutule Tshenye, CEO, Philips Southern Africa.
“Creating access to the latest technology will not only create a more efficient environment for our doctors, but it also offers enhanced healthcare service delivery, and capacity for specialist training to render the department competitive in the cancer research, innovation and development of effective treatment modalities for cancer,” concluded Ramokgopa.
More than 100 000 South Africans are diagnosed with cancer annually and the South African cancer rate is six out of 10. Top cancers among women are breast, cervical and colorectal. Among men there are prostate, colorectal and lung cancers.