Current Activities

A Chemotherapy Services Plan for the Grampians Region has recently been completed.  The following findings are based on consultations with service providers and consumers, data analysis, and a planning workshop: 

• Consumers value access to treatment locally and the opportunity to reduce the burden of travel. They also value the quality of interaction with staff and the quality of care provided/
• Chemotherapy centres are well-distributed across the major population centres in the region, although over time it may be necessary to increase capacity in the rapidly-growing eastern part of the region. It would be difficult to establish any new centres with sufficient critical mass, and it is likely that growth in demand could be accommodated in the existing centres in the foreseeable future. It is noted however, that additional staffing and other resources would be needed to expand service delivery in any of the existing centres.
• The region can improve coordination and standardisation mechanisms to ensure that all chemotherapy centres are working to the same standards and models of care
• Referral and care pathways between primary care, regional chemotherapy centres and metropolitan highly specialised chemotherapy centres can be improved and there may be opportunities for standardisation. Some enablers to this are a regional approach to portability of patient records, shared care arrangements, and the agreement of telehealth protocols
• Consumers would be better supported if there were better relationships between service providers across the region; between public-sector and private-sector providers; and between regional and metropolitan centres. 

Please click here for a link to the executive summary, full report and supporting data.

The project looked at health literacy and factors contributing to a higher incidence of cancer and cancer mortality in the Grampians region and discovered small towns face particular barriers to participation in care across the cancer journey. Subsequently in 2016-17 the project worked with two communities (Beaufort & Avoca) to develop and test a process to co-design strategies to help overcome these barriers. The processes sought to engage local GPs, cancer services, other services, local pharmacists, community groups and local businesses to develop and implement various interventions. A deliverable of this project was to also develop a framework that would help guide service development in other small towns across the region and potentially the state.

In 2017-18 the Ophelia project was extended to engage two Wimmera based towns (Nhill & Warracknabeal) to use the framework and develop interventions aimed at overcoming health literacy barriers for cancer patients. This part of the project is currently in development with the final report due Q3 2018.

Contact for this project is Glenn Reeves, GICS Cancer Service Improvement Coordinator

The FREE folders are available from healthcare professionals providing cancer related services.

In this podcast you will meet two of the nurses, Katherine Lane and Craig Morton, who work on the 131120 Cancer Council Australia helpline.

What are the surgeons looking for when they're operating on your cancer? In this podcast you will meet surgeons Miss Caroline Baker and Mr David Deutscher.

Chemotherapy: 

What can you expect when you start chemotherapy?  New treatments are more targeted with less side effects. In this podcast you will meet Dr Craig Carden and Oncology Nurses Elizabeth McEncroe and Heather McErvale.

What's involved in this high tech cancer treatment and what can you expect? In this podcast you will meet Dr Simone Reeves and radiation therapists Sharon Gibbs and Chris Hoyne.

Great support services are available for the Indigenous community. In this podcast you will meet Emma Leehane, Aboriginal Support Worker and practice nurses Anthony Harrison and Sandy Anderson. 

 

A Cancer Resource Practitioner is a local generalist nurse or allied health professional who is trained to offer supportive care to people, families and carers affected by cancer in their area. 

They refer people with cancer to the right services as close to home as possible. 

They also offer support, information and links to community and specialist cancer services.

Evaluation of the Cancer Resource Nurse/Practitioner role in health services in the Wimmera identified:

• A high level of support and acceptance by patients, community members and health professionals
• Streamlined referral process to ensure that referrals happen and are appropriate 
• Improved patient experience, including patient and carer/family satisfaction 
• Provision of a single and consistent point of contact for the patient with a cancer diagnosis and their carer/family 
• Reduced duplication of service delivery during the active treatment, recovery and survivorship phases
• Patients travelled less distance for appointments, and saved money on travel costs 
• When Cancer Resource Practitioners have protected time to their role to undertake proactive identification, up to 90% of eligible cancer patients in their local area can be supported