© 2003 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 95, No. 9, 642,
May 7, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
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Recommendations for Optimizing Cancer Care in Australia
Earlier this year, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, The Cancer Council Australia, and the National Cancer Control Initiative released their report, Optimizing Cancer Care in Australia (available at www.ncci.org.au). The report included 12 recommendations to improve cancer care services, which were presented to the federal Minister for Health and Aging and to the health ministers in each of the states and territories. The recommendations are:1. Investigate the incentives necessary to foster, maintain, and evaluate integrated multidisciplinary cancer care in both the public and private sectors.
2. Improve ongoing supportive care throughout the cancer journey, including palliative and supportive care and improved consumer access to information.
3. Develop a system of voluntary accreditation for Australian cancer care services that is broadly modeled on that of the U.S. Commission on Cancer.
4. Increase the capacity to perform clinical trials.
5. Implement recommendations made in two previous reports, the National Strategic Plan for Radiation Oncology and The Specialist Haematological and Medical Oncology Workforce in Australia, to increase the number of cancer specialists.
6. Request that the Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee consider the entire nonmedical cancer care workforce, but particularly cancer nurses, radiation physicists, and radiation therapists, as an urgent priority.
7. Recommend that the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council consider the need for additional psychologists or other appropriately trained health professionals who have specialist skills in psycho-oncology.
8. Implement the recommendations of the National Strategic Plan for Radiation Oncology, which focus on addressing deficiencies in the infrastructure for delivering radiotherapy.
9. Establish a working group to review and where possible develop solutions to the key problems of access to new and old pharmaceuticals.
10. Conduct a national review of matters that affect access to cancer care. Particular attention should be paid to populations that may be experiencing disproportionate difficulties with access and the magnitude of that impact on cancer outcomes.
11. Address the needs of minority populations, especially Aboriginal peoples, to bridge the current gaps in access to and utilization of culturally sensitive cancer services.
12. Establish a national Task Force on Cancer to oversee and drive the reform process and to ensure that cancer care services throughout Australia are evidence-based and consumer-focused.
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