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Information for Health Professionals
The Clinician’s Guide to Radiation Oncology
The Faculty of Radiation Oncology at The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists have developed a guide to assist medical practitioners understand the role and use of radiotherapy. The Guide covers each of the common tumour sites, paediatrics, oncological emergencies as well as explaining the common side-effects of radiotherapy and their management The guide can be found here: http://www.ranzcr.edu.au/faculty/about/clinicians_guide.cfm
Review of Ambulatory/Outpatient Chemotherapy and Haematology Services in New South Wales
The Cancer Institute NSW has completed a review of ambulatory/outpatient chemotherapy and haematology services in New South Wales, identifying and recording information on the 83 NSW units providing chemotherapy on an ambulatory basis. The review captured information on physical location, human resources, physical infrastructure, business management systems, access to pathology services, access to imaging services, and supply of chemotherapy for ambulatory chemotherapy units across the State. A summary of the findings of the review can be found here.Clinical Pathway for the Screening and Referral of Cancer Patients for Psychosocial Support - Pilot Workshops June 2007
The Cancer Institute NSW engaged a consultant to develop a workshop program to pilot the clinical pathway for the screening and referral of cancer patients for psychosocial support. Two workshops, one urban (Liverpool-Macarthur) and one regional (Albury), were held in June 2007 with health care professionals from a wide variety of specialties. The workshops tested the tools developed for the clinical pathway for the screening and referral of cancer patients for psychosocial support. These tools included the “the draft Clinical Pathway”, “Identifying risk factors associated with distress in cancer patients” and the “Distress Thermometer”. The next phase of this project involves implementation and evaluation of the modified pathway.
Radiotherapy Business Process Improvement Program Update
The Cancer Institute NSW and NSW Health are co-sponsoring the Radiotherapy Business Process Improvement Program in NSW Public radiation oncology treatment centres. This program began in May 2006 in 3 treatment centres and as of June 2007 is complete in 8 centres. A third phase of the project has been commissioned in an additional 2 centres and is due for completion in November 2007.
This program aims to develop, implement and sustain improvements in the delivery of radiotherapy. The key outcome of this project is to provide patients with improved access to treatment through better-coordinated and more cost-effective radiotherapy service delivery.
The outcomes of the project have been extremely encouraging. Examples of improvements include:
- Reduction in waiting lists in all centres;
- Agreement on throughput targets from all centres which will meet or exceed the current state planning figures;
- Increased treatment capacity;
- Reduction in the average elapsed time from consultation to treatment in all centres;
- Development and establishment of tools for management teams from all centres to focus on day-to-day and weekly fluctuations in demand and capacity;
- Streamlining and simplification of the treatment planning process at each centre, eliminating potential bottlenecks and facilitating further reductions in elapsed time from consultation to treatment;
- Formalisation of the booking process in each centre to maximise effectiveness and where necessary to eliminate “single person risk”, where bookings could be delayed if a key staff member was absent; and
- Improvement in communication with patients at all centres.
Patient Support Directories
The Cancer Institute NSW has produced a number of publications designed to assist cancer patients, their families, carers and health professionals. These publications are available here in PDF format for you to download.
- A-Z Directory of Support Groups 2005
| 4.9mb: A list of support groups operating in suburbs, towns and cities throughout New South Wales and the services they offer. | 4.9mb - Accommodation Guide 2005 | 636kb: A directory of accommodation providers near to all the major cancer treatment centres in New South Wales.
- A-Z Directory of Cancer Publications 2005 | 1.5mb: Lists over 200 cancer publications, a summary of each brochure's contents and details of how to obtain them.
Printed versions are available through health care providers and treatment centres throughout the state. You can also receive a copy by contacting the Cancer Institute NSW by phone on 1800 767 197 or by email to information @ cancerinstitute.org.au.
Links
Links to organisations that contain useful information have been provided. These links do not imply any endorsement, support or commercial gain by the Cancer Institute NSW, NSW Health Services or the State of New South Wales. The validity of the contents, while valuable, can not be guaranteed by the Cancer Institute NSW. More information is available in the Cancer Institute NSW Disclaimer.
