Cancer in the Grampians Region
NEMICS health services and program staff work together to identify and implement improvements in cancer services. The priority areas for improvement include multidisciplinary care, supportive care, coordinated care and the provision of evidence-based care. The planning and implementation of service improvements involve active consumer participation.
The role of Victoria’s Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) is to promote system integration across structural boundaries and to encourage collaborative approaches to evidence-based service development. The VICS bring together a range of stakeholders, clinicians, researchers and consumers who have the ability to influence the development, and implementation of, evidence-based care. A key focus of the clinical networks is to reduce inappropriate variation in access and delivery of patient care.
Current activities include:
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Addressing variation in outcomes related to disadvantaged groups
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Cancer care coordination
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Community Ambassador program podcasts
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Implementation of the Optimal Care Pathways
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Multidisciplinary care
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My Cancer Care Record refresh
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NEMICS grants program
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Referral processes to palliative care
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Regional service planning
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Specialist programs and referrals pathways scoping project
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Supportive care
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Survivorship
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Telehealth
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VICS branding refresh
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VICS consumer engagement peer group
Current Work
Symptom Tracking & Patient Reported Outcomes
Project Lead: Glenn Reeves
Symptom management research has demonstrated the effectiveness of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) using mobile technologies to stay in touch with patients.
Supportive Care for BAROC Patients
Project Lead: Lea Marshall
This project involves the development of formal processes to ensure supportive care is planned for rural patients who are completing radiation therapy treatment at BAROC.
Community Based Psycho-Oncology Services
Project Lead: Kerry Davidson
Undetected or under treated depression is associated with reduced quality of life.
A successful pilot program investigated the feasibility of a collaborative care model of caring for cancer patients with depression.
Strategic Intentions
Post COVID Surge Planning
Project Lead: Sharon Daly
The number of diagnosed cancers has declined between by 12% since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GICS is working with health services across the region to plan for the increase in service demand.
Planning
Cancer Service Performance Audits
GICS undertakes the audits and reports on four indicators that document evidence of:
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multidisciplinary recommendations
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disease staging in multidisciplinary recommendations
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communication of initial treatment plan to the patient's GP
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supportive care screening
The indicators are requirements for clinical communication, quality cancer services, and to ensure patient safety.
MDM Quality
Project Lead: Louise Patterson
GICS is supporting the implementation of the MDM Quality Framework.
This involves surveying MDM participants regarding their experiences - and this year include a focus on the experience of MDM in the COVID environment.
The Cancer Survivor Guide Podcast Series
Project Lead: Glenn Reeves
The podcasts listed below have interviews with local medical specialists and talks about what might be involved in the common treatment paths.
The podcasts are available on iTunes, Spotify and cancersurvivorguide.com.
Service Quality
GICS Newsletter
The GICS Newsletter contains information on newly released cancer statistics, the latest cancer information from around the Grampians Region, developments in cancer research and best practice methodology, professional development opportunities and much more.
Click on the links below to read the latest news and previous issues:
2020 Newsletters
2019 Newsletters