Evaluating the State-wide Oncoplastics Breast Reconstruction Initiative (SOBRI): Mater Health Services
Status: Completed January 2019
Client: Mater Health Services
Background
Since January 2018, Mater Health Services has been piloting the State-wide Oncoplastics Breast Reconstruction Initiative (SOBRI) with grant funding from Queensland Health‘s Clinical Excellence Division.
SOBRI aims to improve access to breast reconstruction discussions and planning for breast cancer patients through a MDT case review, before undergoing mastectomy. The program is targeted to people living Queensland wide who would travel to Mater Health Services for their breast reconstructive surgery after undergoing mastectomy at regional hospitals across Queensland.
The objectives of SOBRI included:
ensure people with diagnosed breast cancer undergo appropriate discussion and decision making and have a recommended treatment plan developed
ensure appropriate on-referral to the treatment team for individualised treatment
reduce psychological trauma associated with mastectomy
ensure standardised management to support practice improvement
strengthen communication between patients, tertiary and primary care settings at critical
decision-making points
reduce wait times for access to discussions about reconstruction
reduce travel costs for regional and rural patients and enable appointments and
treatment closer to home when appropriate
create a professional network between referring specialists and GPs building access,
links, educational opportunities and a state-wide approach to breast reconstruction.
ensure efficient and sustainable use of resources.
Mater Health Services engaged Beacon Strategies to undertake an evaluation of the outcomes of SOBRI to gain a clear understanding of the benefits of the program for patients, clinicians, referrers and the broader public health system. Findings were used to inform considerations and recommendations relating to the feasibility and sustainability of the model.
Approach
The purpose of the project was to provide Mater Health Services with an evaluation of the process and outcomes of the SOBRI model and to deliver a detailed report including program logic model. The objectives of the evaluation were to:
develop an agreed evaluation plan to determine evaluation scope and guide evaluation activities (evaluation plan)
evaluate the outcomes of the initiative for patients, Mater Health Services, participating HHS facilities and other relevant stakeholders (outcome evaluation)
identify factors that underpin successful delivery of the initiative (process evaluation)
demonstrate the impact of the service model to funding providers and inform options for
refining, replicating and scaling (reporting and recommendations)