Presentation of the PROCARE project

Aim   

History

Structure 

Financial support

 

You can also take a look at the presentation, giving an overview of the PROCARE project (2013).

 

Aim

The main objective of this multidisciplinary project is to reduce diagnostic and therapeutic variability and to improve outcome in patients with rectal cancer by means of:

  • Standardization through guidelines
  • Implementation of these guidelines
  • Quality assurance through registration and feedback
  • Training

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History

In the summer of 2003 De Coninck D, Kartheuser A and Penninckx F, all members of the Belgian Section for Colorectal Surgery, a section of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery, decided to start PROCARE as a multidisciplinary, profession-driven and decentralized project.

All medical specialties involved in the care of rectal cancer established a multidisciplinary steering group. Delegates from the respective scientific societies as well as from the Belgian Professional Association were included from the start as it was evident that the project should not only have a scientific backbone but should be driven by 'the professionals'.

During the year 2005 several workshops, postgraduate courses or seminars were organised on rectal cancer in the context of the PROCARE project. In a questionnaire more than 80 % of the Belgian hospitals expressed their willingness to participate in the project.

Multidisciplinary guidelines on the management of rectal cancer were discussed and a first draft was written in 2005. This first version of the PROCARE Guidelines was made available by the respective scientific societies. In the context of a study assigned by the KCE to PROCARE (summer 2006) and related to the identification of quality of care indicators, the guidelines were upgraded with recently published evidence.

In 2005 it was decided to establish a specific database at the Belgian Cancer Registry. A dataset for rectal cancer patients at any stage was made. Registration started in October 2005.

Central registration of 'credible' and high-quality data is a key issue in a national project like this. Fortunately, PROCARE found an excellent 'partner' at the Belgian Cancer Registry. The data are imported into a specific database.

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Structure

Steering group

PROCARE is steered by a Steering Group in which all disciplines and societies involved in the management of rectal cancer have delegates. It is chaired by Penninckx F and co-chaired by Dercq JP.

You can find the minutes of the steering group under the heading Publications.

 

Financial Committee

The financial committee is only responsible for the administration of the funds from the National Institute for Sickness and Invalidity Insurance (RIZIV/INAMI).

Administrator: PROCARE p/a Penninckx F. at UZ Gasthuisberg Leuven.

 

You can see who the other delegates from the Financial Committee are by clicking here.

 

Internal rules concerning financial administration:

  • The responsible administrator circulates an overview (in, out, balance, commitments) every trimester to all members of the PROCARE steering group.
  • The administrator is not supposed to take specific initiatives 'ex officio'. Initiatives should come from any society/association represented in the PROCARE working group. Deviation from the originally planned allocation of costs is not allowed.
  • In case re-allocation of planned costs would seem to be appropriate, the administrator must ask written permission, in advance (i.e. before costs or commitments are made), to the financial committee. A decision will be taken by simple majority.

 

Datacenter

The PROCARE datacenter is and will remain at the Belgian Cancer Registry. The BCR supervises and controls all privacy aspects related to data on any person (patient, surgeon, pathologist, etc) mentioned in the data used. At entry in the database, data are encrypted (anonymized). All data used for analysis, feedback and benchmarking remain anonymous.

The data of the specific PROCARE database are 'owned' by the PROCARE  Feitelijke Vereniging/Association de Fait. Data can not be used for any purpose not linked with the PROCARE project and/or without the permission of the PROCARE Steering Group.

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Financial support

The search for financial support from the authorities has been a major activity of the PROCARE steering group.
The project has financial support from

 

The contact at the BCR working for PROCARE is:
Mrs. Tamara Vandendael, tel. 02-250.10.17, procare2@kankerregister.org


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