For the last 5 years, the Unicorn Foundation working with the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, has developed and promoted a clinical pathway for the provision of Lutate in NSW hospitals.
As of January 2015 the NSW Ministry of health is supporting an evaluation of Lutate therapy at two sites – St George and Royal North Shore Hospitals. NET patients in NSW, if they are to be considered as potential recipients by their treating doctor of this therapy, need to be referred to and assessed by the NET MDT at either one (St George or Royal North Shore Hospitals) of the two NSW Lutate Services .
When patients are referred to one of the two NSW Lutate Services, they will be added to a NETs MDT Register and depending on availability, access and capacity of each centre, may be treated at either institution, rather than the most geographically convenient. Patients will also need to meet nationally agreed patient selection criteria before Lutate treatment can be considered.
For more information go to http://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/networks/nuclear-medicine/resources or print the referral protocol from the Unicorn Foundation (download below). It is important for all NSW NET patients to inform their treating doctors of this service to ensure that they are receiving the best possible care and clinical outcomes for the management of their NET.