Profiling of Regional Cancer Services, Cancer Australia
This project aimed to inform nationally consistent approaches to best practice cancer care in Australia and to guide future health service planning. Cancer Australia engaged HMA to map the status of cancer services including tumour types, treatments and referrals provided by regional cancer services and identify how each networked service was delineated in its state and territory’s hospital framework.
The project included national surveys of both infrastructure available in regional cancer services for treating and diagnosing cancer patients, as well as current referral pathways.
Recognising the value of the data collected, Cancer Australia requested HMA to undertake an extensive review and quality assurance process. This involved detailed consultation with each jurisdiction to obtain feedback on survey results. As a result, Cancer Australia had for the first time ever a comprehensive description of the infrastructure, available support, cancer diagnosis and treatment in Australia’s 34 regional cancer services funded by the Commonwealth. This provided a comprehensive database to inform regional cancer service planning.
The project was completed in July 2015.