Evaluation of the palliative radiotherapy pathway in a single institute: Can an MR Linac improve efficiency?

Palliative radiotherapy (RT) is effectively used to relieve cancer related symptoms. The demand for these services is increasing worldwide. Rapid response clinics have been developed as a means to streamline the palliative RT radiotherapy process and increase efficiency and improve patient experiences. Key components to successful rapid response palliative RT are access to care, streamlined services and innovation. To successfully implement a rapid response RT programme, it is essential to identify gaps between currently provided care and ideal or enhanced care. The aims of this work are to audit the current palliative RT workflow at our institution both prior to and during the coronavirus pandemic. This work reports the impact of covid-19 on rate of palliative RT referrals and proposes a radiographer led, MR guided rapid response workflow to reduce wait times