NSW Oncology Group: Urology

GMCT Urology is a joint committee between the Cancer Institute NSW and the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce. In March 2009, it was recommended the NSWOG Urology and GMCT Urology merge in order to counter overlap in the membership and activities of the two groups.

Both Groups were chaired by Dr Andrew Brooks, Head of the Urology Department for the Sydney West Area Health Service.

NSWOG Urology projects will continue under the auspice of GMCT Urology.

Key activities of NSWOG Urology:

NSWOG Priority Project: NSW strategic urology oncology plan and one year operational plan

In 2007, the Cancer Institute NSW supported a project defined by each invited NSWOG as the priority activity to improving cancer care and control in their clinical area. The selected project was supported by the NSWOG membership, aligned to the Terms of Reference of the Group.

The Cancer Institute NSW undertook a review of urological services in NSW in the context of rapid increases in diagnoses of prostate cancer. The purpose was to develop a long term strategy for urological cancer services and a one-year operational plan to effectively direct the contribution of NSWOG Urology towards initiatives that will result in measurable improvements in outcomes for patients with urological cancers.

Click here to read the Project Summary Report.

Click here to view the 2008 COSA Poster: Challenges and opportunities for urological cancer services in New South Wales.

Operational Plan

Following recommendations from the operational plan for urology, the following projects are underway:

Development of new roles and systems to ensure specialists time is spent on treating new patients, rather than follow-up of existing patients (which may be undertaken by other professionals).
Endorsement of a standardised psychosocial tool suitable for issues relating to urological cancers.
Development of standardised multidisciplinary team (MDT) referral criteria

The project is due for completion in October 2009.

Synoptic Pathology Reporting

NSWOG Urology was among the four tumour stream NSWOGs that identified structured pathology as a high priority for improving clinical decision support. Collaborative projects have been established in this area, and more information is available on the Structured Pathology Reporting page of the Cancer Institute NSW site

Click here to visit GMCT Urology.