Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for cancer centres.
A checklist built from how cancer centres work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Patient file with outside reports
- Tumour board register
- Protocol and cycle calendar
- Day-care chairs and drug preparation list
- Radiotherapy slots and fraction count
- Package estimates and sponsor letters
- Surveillance and follow-up recall
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For oncologists
- For day-care nurses
- For pharmacists
- For radiotherapy technologists
- For the billing and social work desk
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Cases presented by week and decision
- Cycles due in the next fourteen days
- Infusion chair use by hour
- Fractions delivered against plan by machine
- Packages quoted against billed
- Cytotoxic stock near expiry
- Patients overdue for surveillance
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Laboratory results import
- Accounting export
- Barcode or label printer
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this oncology software or a general hospital system?
- Does it calculate chemotherapy doses?
- How does it show a patient’s position in a regimen?
- Can it manage radiotherapy slots on more than one machine?
- What happens to a drug bag when the patient does not arrive?
- Can sponsor and insurer approvals be recorded?
- Can we move our current patient registers across?
- Who owns the patient records?
- How is the price set?
- Do we need it for a small day-care unit?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Cycle dates drift between departments
- Pathology and scan reports sit in separate folders
- Radiotherapy fractions are counted by hand
- Package estimates and actual bills do not agree
- Follow-up after treatment is dropped
Prefer to talk it through? See the cancer centres page.