Multidisciplinary team: specialists planning your care together

A multidisciplinary team brings different specialists together around one patient. What it is, who may be in it and how to ask about it before travelling.

Glossary term · Hospital & care

By Nikhil Sharma, Founder · Updated · How we write and check

Definition

Multidisciplinary team (also: MDT, Multidisciplinary care team): A multidisciplinary team is a group of doctors and other health professionals from different specialties who plan and deliver a patient’s care together.

A multidisciplinary team is a group of specialists from different fields who plan a patient’s care together. The US National Cancer Institute uses the term for a treatment planning approach that includes several doctors and other professionals. In cancer care the core disciplines are medical, surgical and radiation oncology. The same approach is used in transplant, cardiac and complex surgery.

Who may be in the team?

It depends on your condition. A cancer team may include oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists and specialist nurses. A transplant team adds nephrology or hepatology, anaesthesia and transplant coordinators. A joint replacement team often includes physiotherapists.

The NHS describes cancer care as being looked after by a group of specialists throughout diagnosis and treatment, with a clinical nurse specialist as the main contact.

Why does it help an international patient?

  • Different experts see your records together, which can reduce repeat tests.
  • Plans that cross specialties, such as surgery followed by chemotherapy, are coordinated.
  • You get one agreed recommendation rather than separate opinions.

What should I ask?

  • Who leads my care and who is my day-to-day contact?
  • Which specialists will review my reports?
  • How will the team share its plan with my doctor at home?

Language matters

Team discussions are clinical. Ask that the agreed plan is explained to you through a qualified interpreter if you need one, and that you receive it in writing.

Questions people ask

Does every hospital use a multidisciplinary team?

Ask directly how your case will be reviewed and by whom. A hospital that plans complex care as a team should be able to name the specialists involved and explain how they agree the plan.

Will I meet every member of the team?

Not always. You will usually meet the lead specialist and some others. The team may discuss your case in a meeting you do not attend. You can ask who was involved.

Sources

General information, not medical or legal advice. Rules change: confirm with the official source. How we write and check.

More glossary

Admission deposit

An admission deposit is an advance payment a hospital may ask for at or before admission, adjusted later against the final bill.

Case manager

A case manager is a non-clinical coordinator who guides a patient through the practical steps of treatment, from sharing reports to follow-up after returning home.

Hospital cost estimate

A hospital cost estimate is a written projection from a hospital of the expected charges for a proposed treatment, based on the reports it has reviewed.

Informed consent

Informed consent is a patient’s voluntary permission for a test or treatment, given with capacity after an explanation of its benefits, risks and alternatives.

Inpatient care

Inpatient care is treatment given after a formal admission to hospital, usually involving at least one overnight stay under a doctor’s order.

Intensive care unit (ICU)

An intensive care unit is a specialist hospital ward that treats and closely monitors people who are very ill, often with support for one or more organs.

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