August 2016
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Victoria's next Cancer Plan released

The State Government Victorian Cancer Plan was launched by the Health Minister Jill Hennessy on Friday 22 July at the Western Hospital. Cancer survivorship projects were also launched.

In a nutshell:

  • There are five key priority areas; primary prevention; screening and early detection; treatment; wellbeing and support and research.
  • It includes an emphasis on improving access to clinical trials, and accelerating the translation of cancer research into outcomes for patients.
  • The Optimal Care Pathways implementation will be a focus of the plan.
  • The plan seeks to streamline referral processes to higher-volume services for complex and rarer cancer patients and implement a services capability framework across Victoria to inform referral pathways.
  • There is a focus on equity and on better understanding and addressing the differences in outcomes for certain cancers, regions and population groups.
  • The plan acknowledges the importance of patient centred care.

This is an image of the front cover of the plan. You can download the Victorian Cancer Plan from www.health.vic.gov.au/cancer. To find out what other priorities were included read on below.

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Victorian Cancer Plan 2016-2020

Clinical Network celebrates 40 years working with Victorian cancer clinicians and cancer care advocates

The Clinical Network has come a long way since our establishment in 1976. We have changed our name, purpose and structure and evolved substantially, reflecting the changing cancer landscape in Victoria. We were established as the Victorian Chemotherapy Cooperative Group (VCCG) and evolved to the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group in 1981.

The original purpose was to discuss the management of solid tumours requiring chemotherapy, a fairly new method of treatment in Victoria at the time.

Today the Clinical Network aims to support our members to collectively advocate for practice change for a variety of cancer treatment related issues, affecting both patients and clinicians.

We establish steering groups to write submissions or letters to relevant government bodies, run niche events, hold workshops and undertake research projects.

We encourage you to get in touch with us with your issues or opportunities. Read on to find out how we can assist you.

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Mircoscope

Clinical Network awarded $150k Ian Potter Foundation Grant.

We are very pleased to announce that the Clinical Network has been awarded an Ian Potter Foundation grant of $150K. Congratulations to Cat Parker who led the submission and will manage the project.

The funding will be used to undertake a review and update of the Victorian Cancer Trials Link   website to improve its consumer friendliness with the aim of improving patient access to clinical trials. Other key elements of the project will be the promotion of clinical trials to patients. Watch this space for more detail to come.

Victorian Health and Medical Research Strategy has been publically released.

The Clinical Network provided input via the submission process last year. We are pleased to see enhancing the clinical trials system has been listed as a key objective, however most of the initiatives do not have an allocated budget. Find the strategy here.

The Victorian Cancer Registry

The Victorian Cancer Registry (VCR) is a population-based cancer registry located within the Cancer Council Victoria. The VCR aims to provide comprehensive, accurate and timely information for cancer control. Currently, about 240 hospitals and 30 pathology laboratories notify us of cancer cases. Cancer screening registers are also required to notify us of all new cancer diagnoses. Each year, we process over 100,000 new cancer notifications, relating to around 30,000 new tumours.

The Victorian Cancer Registry Data Release 2015  provides a summary of the number and type of data requests that the VCR receive annually. It also provides an overview of the average response time for VCR to supply the data requested.
For more information about how to access and use VCR data, see data access for research.

Graph and Magnifying glass

Developments in end of life care and end of life choices

The Victorian Parliament has recently reviewed laws relating to Victorians’ rights and options to make informed decisions regarding their end of life care and choices. 

The Final Report makes a number of recommendations on the need for greater investment and workforce development in the palliative care sector and improved clarity in advance care planning laws, including the introduction of legislation for advance care directives. The Report further recommends that the Victorian Government introduce an ‘assisted dying’ framework. Read more here. 

The Victorian Government has recently released Simplifying medical treatment decision making and advance care planning a position paper outlining its intention to legislate on advance care directives. 

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Law and Cancer event

Law and Cancer Events

Clinical Network in partnership with the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer ran two events during Law Week in May.

Law and cancer: how the law impacts on cancer and the responsibilities of cancer clinicians - for clinicians, health professionals and the legal sector. A lively multi-disciplinary medical and legal panel discussed the complexities related to the legal frameworks impacting on cancer care.

Discussing death and dying: advance care planning - this event provided a welcoming space in which cancer patients, their carers and health professionals could gain a better understanding of how advance care planning can support better decision-making at the end of life.

Upcoming conferences

One more thing....

Rachel Whiffen has welcomed a daughter, Lorna, to her family and is currently on maternity leave.

Cat Parker and Esther Sadek are currently Acting Managers of the Clinical Network. Esther's role relates to our policy and advocacy work whilst Cat Parker manages our clinical trials program which includes the CTMS and management of the Victorian Cancer Trials Link.

We welcome Tessa Penny to the team as our new Program Support Officer. The Clinical Network also maintains a close partnership with Deb Lawson, Legal Policy Advisor, McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer who provides legal input into our advocacy and policy projects.

For more details on any of the initiatives in this email please contact:

Cancer Council Victoria's Clinical Network
Celebrating 40 years of connecting Victorian cancer clinicians

Address: 615 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic 3004 Australia

Phone: +61 3 9514 6304 | Web: www.cancervic.org.au

Email: clinicalnetwork@cancervic.org.au

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