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Brackenmoor NHS FT, clinical staff
Brackenmoor NHS FT, MDT recording, disclosed to the investigation
Chair (MDT coordinator).
'Sorry all, running late; fire alarm test this morning knocked twenty minutes off the list. Let's get through this one quickly.'
Dr Whitfield (registrar).
'No worries, still waiting on radiology's slides to load anyway.'
Dr Fenwick (oncologist), aside.
'Third test this month. One of these days it'll be real and nobody will move.'
Dr Fenwick.
'Radiology, anything else? Right; HORIZON has her at 0.31 for ninety-day mortality, expected survival 11.8 months.'
Dr Whitfield.
'Is that with the new nodule?'
Dr Fenwick.
'It's whatever the system has. 11.8.'
[A bleep sounds.] Dr Whitfield, aside. 'Sorry; ignore that, ward calling, not this.'
Dr Okafor (palliative care).
'Eleven point eight. Does it give a range?'
Dr Fenwick.
'It gives what you see. There's one box and one number in it.'
Dr Okafor.
'Because if the honest answer is somewhere between two months and three years, that's a completely different conversation to have with her and her daughter.'
Dr Fenwick.
'I agree. It doesn't say that. It says 11.8.'
The MDT proceeded on the basis of the point estimate. She was readmitted as an emergency 48 days later, her condition having deteriorated far faster than the number on the screen had suggested.
Chair.
'Right; next patient, bed 14, similar picture I think.'
Dr Whitfield, aside.
'Bleep's stopped, false alarm, someone else picked it up. Staying put.'
Dr Okafor.
'Two minutes, need to grab water first.'