Wroclaw cancer hospital with ECIBC certificate

December 2022. The Lower Silesian Oncology Center for Pulmonology and Hematology is the only facility in Poland to undergo EU ECIBC certification. An international team of auditors from, among others, the German Cancer Society and Onco Cert, an organization that has been certifying breast cancer treatment units (Breast Unit) across Europe for 20 years, analyzed the standards of diagnosis and therapy, as well as the results of treatment of breast cancer patients at DCOPiH.

- The auditors took a look at 73 metrics related to each stage of diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. These metrics help to objectively assess and compare the quality of services provided," says Dr. Katarzyna Konat-Bąska, radiotherapist, project coordinator at DCOPiH - pointed out, among other things, that diagnostics, surgical procedures, systemic treatment, radiotherapy, and physiotherapist and psychologist care offered to patients at DCOPiH are at the level of the best centers in Europe. They also pointed out, the innovative and reliable way in which the Wroclaw center prepares and reports data.

This is the first ECIBC accreditation of its kind, and only centers selected by the auditor participated. The only facility from Poland to be audited was the Lower Silesian Center for Pulmonology and Hematology Oncology. In addition to DCOPiH, the famous German center of the Charité University Hospital in Berlin was certified, among others.

- Compared to other European breast cancer centers, we fared very well," says Professor Rafal Matkowski, surgeon, head of the DCOPIH Breast Center, "undergoing such audits and accreditations is extremely important to us. Centers such as ours have among their tasks, in addition to diagnosis, screening, therapy and education, regular monitoring and auditing of treatment results, procedures used and standards of practice. There is no better verification of our work than to undergo accreditation by an independent institution. This allows us to continuously improve the quality of patient care. It is also a confirmation of the effectiveness of the procedures introduced and updated regularly and a comparison with other European centers.

This is another audit confirming the high quality of treatment at DCOPiH.

- In 2021, we were the first hospital in Poland to receive the international IPPAC certificate, and in order to obtain it, we worked for three years to improve our procedures for monitoring and reporting the quality of patient treatment," says Dr. Aleksandra Sztuder, radiotherapist, plenipotentiary of the director of the DCOPiH Comprehensive Oncology Care Network. - Now we have undergone another audit, evaluating breast cancer treatment. The reports we received after the iPAAC and then ECIBC audits indicate that the breast cancer diagnosis and treatment proposed at the center is at the highest European level.

The number of breast cancer patients is growing very intensively. Unfortunately, patients still get to the doctor too late. In Poland, the number of breast cancer patients doubles every 20 years. Currently, about 20 thousand new cases are reported annually in Poland. In Lower Silesia there are about 1.8 thousand. The only effective method of fighting breast cancer is prevention, in Poland between 50 and 69 healthy women can take advantage of free screening mammograms. Unfortunately, participation in these tests does not exceed 40 percent.

infra