Jihlava Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Centre – KOC
KOC mission: “A system for the patient, not the patient for the system”
The main mission of the KOC is to ensure that cancer treatment is not fragmented. In an ordinary hospital you might have to go round to the surgeon yourself, then look for an oncologist and wait for an appointment with a radiologist. The mission of the KOC is to concentrate all knowledge and technology in one place.
For the patient, this means:
• Assurance of expertise: The patient's fate is decided by a team of top experts who encounter the given type of tumour every day, not once a year.
• Equal access: No matter how rare the patient's type of disease is, the KOC has established procedures (protocols) for it.
Main goals of the KOC (explained in plain terms)
The goals of the centres are set to directly influence the quality and length of patients' lives. Here are the most important ones:
1. Multidisciplinary decision-making (teamwork)
The goal is for treatment to be provided not by “one doctor”, but by a team of doctors.
• What this means for the patient: The oncological finding is discussed by a so-called indication committee (tumour board), made up of a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiotherapist and a pathologist. Together they debate what is best for the patient, and the patient receives a result that has been examined from several perspectives.
2. Availability of “centre” drugs
There are modern drugs (biological therapy, immunotherapy) that cost millions of crowns and require extremely precise dosing.
• What this means for the patient: The KOC is the only place with a contract from health insurance companies to administer these state-of-the-art drugs. If the patient's condition requires “the treatment of the future”, this is exactly where they will get it.
3. Concentration of experience (high number of procedures)
The goal is for complex operations to be performed by people who perform hundreds of them a year.
• What this means for the patient: The statistics are clear – for complex procedures (e.g. pancreatic or lung surgery), outcomes at a KOC are significantly better than in small hospitals, because the surgeons there have a “well-practised hand”.
4. Minimising delays (Time is on the patient's side)
The goal of the KOC is to shorten the time from the first suspicion to the start of treatment itself.
• What this means for the patient: The KOC has its own laboratories and diagnostics (CT, MRI). There is no need to wait months for an appointment elsewhere; the centre tries to speed up the process, because in oncology time is the greatest enemy.
5. Quality of life (not just surviving, but living)
The goal is not only to destroy the tumour, but to care for the person as a whole.
• What this means for the patient: The KOC includes nutrition counsellors (so that the body has strength), psycho-oncologists (for psychological support) and pain management specialists.
Summary for patients
Aim of the KOC | What will it bring the patient?! |
State-of-the-art diagnostics | The patient can be sure that the doctors know exactly what they are fighting. |
Individual plan | Treatment is tailored to the individual body and type of tumour. |
Safety | Modern equipment irradiates more precisely and causes less damage to surrounding tissue. |
Hope | The opportunity to take part in research into new drugs not available elsewhere. |
Motto KOC
“To receive the best treatment available anywhere in the world at the time, under the care of people who talk to each other.”