In this issue...
- National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre releases Reconciliation Action Plan
- Clinical practice guidelines for external review
- Promoting multidisciplinary care for all patients with cancer
- Shared care demonstration project update
- Virtual classrooms for rural health professionals caring for women with breast cancer
- NBOCC’s topic-specific clinical practice guidelines available in new online format
- Associate Professor John Buckingham
National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre releases Reconciliation Action Plan
National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC) is committed to improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer, and is pleased to release our Reconciliation Action Plan outlining how NBOCC can help close the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy.An initiative of Reconciliation Australia, a Reconciliation Action Plan, or RAP, is a tool to build positive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Many different types of organisations are developing RAPs, from big corporations to small businesses, local, state and federal government agencies, sporting bodies such as the NRL and AFL, hospitals, schools, universities, and more.
NBOCC’s RAP is a formal representation of our respect for the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Together with our existing and future program of work, NBOCC’s RAP will contribute to Australia’s collective reconciliation efforts and promote equality in health, cancer care and cancer outcomes for all Australians.
Since 1996 NBOCC has been working to reduce disparity and improve survival outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women diagnosed with breast cancer. NBOCC currently works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to provide women with important information about breast cancer awareness, early detection, and breast cancer treatment and care.
As part of its commitment to a better future for all Australians, NBOCC is the first cancer organisation to develop and launch a RAP.
By committing to the activities and objectives in our RAP, NBOCC will contribute to the Reconciliation Australia vision for an “Australia that recognises and respects the special place, culture, rights and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and where good relationships between the first Australians and other Australians become the foundation for local strength and success and the enhancement of our national wellbeing”.
For more information about Reconciliation Action Plans, visit the Reconciliation Australia website. To view NBOCC’s RAP, please click here
Clinical practice guidelines for external review
NBOCC is inviting health professionals and consumers to participate in the external review of three new topic-specific clinical practice guidelines.
The use of hypofractionated radiotherapy in early breast cancer, Recommendations for management of women at high risk of ovarian cancer and Follow-up of women with epithelial ovarian cancer have all been developed by multidisciplinary working groups, including clinicians and consumer representatives, and have been informed by a systematic evidence reviews undertaken by NBOCC.
The use of hypofractionated radiotherapy in early breast cancer external review closes on 3 May 2011. The Follow-up of women with epithelial ovarian cancer external review closes on May 9. For further information or to provide comment on either of these draft guidelines, please contact
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(Ph: 02 9357 9412).
Recommendations for management of women at high risk of ovarian cancer external review closes on 2 May 2011. For further information or to provide comment, please contact
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(Ph: 02 9357 9408).
If you would like to participate in the external reviews, the draft guidelines are available on NBOCC’s website.
Promoting multidisciplinary care for all patients with cancer
Multidisciplinary care is recognised as best practice in treatment planning and care for cancer patients and NBOCC has championed the implementation of multidisciplinary cancer care for all cancer patients.
However, to date there has been limited national information available about the extent to which health services in Australia have adopted the multidisciplinary care approach. To investigate this, NBOCC undertook an audit of 155 hospitals across Australia, including both public and private hospitals, to assess the implementation of multidisciplinary cancer care in line with best practice recommendations for breast, gynaecological, colorectal, prostate and lung cancers.
The results of the audit, recently published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that multidisciplinary care is not being implemented in line with best practice or applied consistently across Australia.
Informed by the audit, NBOCC identified barriers to the national implementation of multidisciplinary cancer care in Australia, and has developed recommendations to improve the uptake and implementation of multidisciplinary care at the health services level, multidisciplinary team level and policy level.
NBOCC is now working with key cancer organisations, including Cancer Australia, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia and Cancer Voices Australia, to develop strategies to help ensure that all Australian cancer patients, regardless of where they live, have access to multidisciplinary care as a standard component of cancer care.
To view reports on the national multidisciplinary care audit and NBOCC’s recommendations to support national implementation of multidisciplinary care click here.
Shared care demonstration project update
Through NBOCC’s Shared care demonstration project, selected sites in NSW, South Australia and Victoria are providing shared follow-up care between primary and specialist clinicians, supported by clinical practice guidelines and resources to guide the delivery of evidence-based care.
Demonstration sites have been recruiting patients to the Shared care demonstration project since June last year, with more than 1,100 patients currently participating in shared follow-up care. The preliminary evaluation findings demonstrate that all specialists involved in the project support shared care and have identified shared care as a feasible model for providing long-term follow-up care to an increasing number of patients. Shared care has also been found to be acceptable to patients, GPs and specialists. A comprehensive evaluation to assess acceptability, feasibility and cost of shared follow-up care is underway, and will inform recommendations for the national adoption of a sustainable model of shared follow-up care for women after treatment for early breast cancer.
For more information on NBOCC’s Shared care demonstration project please click here
The Shared care demonstration project is supported by a grant from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) Translational Research Funding Program.
Virtual classrooms for rural health professionals caring for women with breast cancer
NBOCC is inviting rural health professionals to register today for upcoming virtual classroom sessions on breast cancer topics including follow-up care and palliative care.
Upcoming virtual classroom dates:
• 23 May 7pm AEST - Following breast cancer treatment: the role of the primary care team
• 8 June 7pm AEST- When breast cancer has progressed: the role of the general practitioner
Virtual classrooms are conducted in real-time by breast cancer experts and allow participants to ask questions and get answers through a dynamic, interactive online learning environment. Participants can attend from their home or office computer – with no need to travel. The sessions are accredited for professional development points by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
To register, contact
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(Ph: 02 9357 9478). Sessions are limited to 15 health professionals – register today!
NBOCC’s topic-specific clinical practice guidelines available in new online format
NBOCC's topic-specific guidelines are available in a new online publishing format which enables health professionals to quickly access relevant sections of the recommendations and print them as required. This new online format will also provide relevant links, for example to the systematic reviews on which the guidelines are based, as well as providing NBOCC greater efficiency in creating and updating clinical practice guidelines.
NBOCC’s topic-specific guidelines include statements and recommendations based on high-level evidence and supplement the recommendations currently provided by NBOCC’s clinical practice guidelines for best practice in the management of breast and ovarian cancer.
NBOCC’s recommendations are available to download by clicking here.
Associate Professor John Buckingham
NBOCC was very saddened by the recent death of specialist breast cancer surgeon Associate Professor John Buckingham, who has contributed to the work of NBOCC over many years.
In 2003, A/Prof Buckingham joined the BreastScreen Australia National Quality Management Committee representing the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). A/Prof Buckingham contributed significantly to BreastScreen Australia through his role with RACS, and was also on a sub-group for collating and analysing national accreditation data, an area he was passionate about.
A valued member of NBOCC’s Post-surgical care project working group, A/Prof Buckingham’s dedication and commitment to this project over a number of years will continue to improve the care women receive after their breast cancer surgery for years to come.
A/Prof Buckingham was committed to improving the wellbeing and outcomes of women with breast cancer.
A/Prof Buckingham was named ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2010. He was diagnosed in early January with inoperable pancreatic cancer.