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Brain & CNS - USC (2WW)

Checked: 23-11-2022 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 23-11-2023

Service Overview

The brain tumour treatment team consists of highly experienced doctors, and other health care professionals who care for more than 600 adults and children with gliomas and other brain and nervous system tumours each year. Specialists from neurology, neurosurgery, radiology, neuropathology, radiation therapy, clinical oncology, psychology and brain rehabilitation work together to deliver the most appropriate treatment for each patient diagnosed with a tumour. Bristol Neuro-Oncology services treat a population of over 3 million adults and 5 million children.

The most common method of referral is from a secondary care centre to the Neurosurgical unit at Southmead Hospital Bristol, which is part of the North Bristol NHS Trust. Referrals are accepted from anywhere within the country. Surgery is carried out at North Bristol NHS Trust with further treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, if required, will take place at the nearest local hospital. Making a referral has now been streamlined into a single step electronic process.

Referral Guidance

Referrals for patients aged 16 and over with suspected brain or CNS tumour should be made through e-RS using the Brain & CNS Suspected Cancer Referral Form (available in EMIS).

Please refer via: Urgent Suspected Cancer - Brain and CNS Malignancies Triage Service - Southmead - RVJ. Select 'send for triage' in eRS rather than selecting a date and time for dummy appointment.

Referrals for patients who have already had imaging (MRI scan, or CT if MRI contraindicated) and where brain or spinal tumour is suspected, can also be made through the Bristol Neuro-Oncology website via referapatient to the weekly Neuro-Oncology MDT.

Emergency Referrals should be made over the telephone. Contact the on-call neurosurgical team at Southmead Hospital: 0117 414 5726

Patient Leaflet

At time of referral please issue the BNSSG Understanding Your Urgent Fast Track Referral patient information leaflet.

Clinical Guidance

Please see link to NICE Guidelines Brain and CNS Cancers .

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.