It is clear that patients with sarcoma are best treated by a team of specialists with expertise in treating sarcomas. Within the London Sarcoma Service we have a large team of clinicians, specialist nurses and allied healthcare professionals (including physiotherapists, dieticians, and occupational therapists) caring for patients across the two sites at RNOH and UCLH. This multidisciplinary team working is coordinated by MDT coordinators at each hospital.
While there is an emphasis within the service on the treatment of orthopaedic tumours of the limbs and trunk at RNOH and UCLH, bone and soft tissue sarcomas can arise at any site of the body, and so the London Sarcoma Service has developed a network of site specific extended multidisciplinary teams to offer sarcoma specific treatment, whatever the tumour site.
The core surgical team is based at RNOH and the core oncology team is based at UCLH. However, there are a number of other specialist teams who link in with the core team to provide surgery for sarcomas arising in non-limb and trunk sites. These teams are located the Royal Free Hospital, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and the Royal Brompton Hospital.
A top priority of the London Sarcoma Service is to place the patient at the centre of their care. All patients are assigned to a key worker which will be one of a large team of sarcoma Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS'), including CNS' based at RNOH (for children, teenagers and adult patients), and CNS' based at UCLH (for children, teenagers, young adults and adults). The key worker will support the patient and their family through diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up after treatment is finished.