Improving patient experiences and outcomes by connecting cancer care
and driving best practice. |
We welcome you to the summer edition of our Grampians Integrated Cancer Service (GICS) newsletter. This edition includes the launch of our Annual Report publication, an opportunity to watch our 2024 Annual Forum, and the team have take some time to reflect on the year that was.
We are happy to share an exciting announcement, where GICS have been funded to undertake a Colonoscopy Optimisation Project, which has resulted in welcoming new members to GICS.
We're reminding our readers that we still have a number of opportunities on offer, including our Professional Development Grants and we've also included a number of project updates, team activities and news that has been keeping us busy over recent months.
Don't forget! If you have any upcoming events, resources or information you would like us to share in this newsletter, please contact GICS. |
Seasons Greetings
First and foremost we would like to take this opportunity to wish Seasons Greetings to our readers and thank the staff and organisations across the Grampians region who we've partnered with during 2024 to improve the experiences and outcomes for people affected by cancer.
Office Closure
Our offices will be closed for the Christmas - New Year period from Monday 23 December to when we return on Monday 6 January 2025. During this time we will be taking a short break to recharge and spend time with loved ones.
Some members of our team will be taking extended leave over the summer period however it you'd like to reach out to the team please contact us via email at gics@gh.org.au, where we'll respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.
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Colonoscopy Optimisation Project - Funding Announcement
GICS are pleased to announce that we have been granted Federal funding to undertake a colonoscopy access project across the Grampians region.
This 12 month project aims to explore concordance with Clinical Practice Guidelines for timely access post a positive Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) result within the Grampians region and to identify priority areas and activities to improve access to timeline colonoscopy.
The Project will have focus across three streams Patient, Primary Care, Tertiary Health Services perspectives and aims to:
- Streamline and expand referral pathways to improve equitable and timely access to colonoscopy for National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) participants
- Improve compliance on colonoscopy reporting to the National Cancer Screening Registry
- Reduce the stage of disease for patients at diagnosis through earlier detection of disease enabled by the NBCSP.
Over the duration of the project we will be engaging with key stakeholders across the region to identity current issues across the streams, work through feasible solutions and to increase compliance to the National Cancer Screening Registry.
The Colonoscopy Access Project team held Workshop One - Exploration Phase on Thursday 12 December. The workshop was attended by 18 key stakeholders (see image below) with representation across three streams of the project - Consumer, Primary Care and Tertiary Health Service. |
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The objective of the workshop was to bring stakeholders together to engage in conversation on the process mapping for the patient journey from receiving a positive FOBT through the National Bowel Screening Cancer Program to receiving Colonoscopy and if necessary to first Specialist appt.
This workshop gave an opportunity for the exploration of the referral process from Consumer to GP to Health Service, understanding pain points and the known and unknown issues to be identified. Over the coming weeks we will be analysing the workshop and discussions into a report that will be used to inform the next phase of the project.
A second workshop - the Solutions Phase, will be held on 6 February 2025 and will discuss the solutions and the feasibility of the solution to the identified issues and work through the pain points. |
GICS 2023-24 Annual Report
We are pleased to launch our 2023-24 Annual Report.
This report provides an opportunity to share with our Grampians region members, communities and stakeholders, an overview of our activities and achievements during the 2023-24 financial year. |
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GICS 2024 Annual Forum
Did you miss out on attending our 2024 Annual Forum?
This years forum 'On the Improve: proudly showcasing our achievements' we were proud to present some of our 2023-24 achievements including GICS led projects, professional development opportunities for staff awarded grant funding and service improvement grant projects. |
The day was a great success and we would like to thank all of those individuals involved in the planning and production of our showcase; we couldn't have done it without you.
In the event you were unable to attend on the day, you can watch our forum available on YouTube. |
Welcome to the Team
We are pleased to welcome Fiona Hodder, Rebecca Dening, Gyan Govind & Jasmin Peldys to the GICS team.
After the exciting announcement that GICS were awarded Federal Funding to undertake a Colonoscopy Access Project. The project team have now commenced and include: Fiona as the Deputy Program Manager - Colonoscopy Triage; Rebecca Dening as Project Lead - Health Service Perspective; Jasmine Peldys as Project Lead - Primary Care and Gyan Govind as Data Analyst. |
Rebecca Dening
Bec commenced with the team in October 2024 and is featured in this editions Staff Profile:
What is your role here at GICS?
To identify the issues that are delaying patients in receiving timely access to colonoscopy for National Bowel Cancer Screening Program participants within the Health Service.
What are your career achievements / accomplishments?
'A jack of all trades' - in my somewhat short time at Grampians Health, I have worked across multiple different areas. I started as a Pharmacy Technician, I then moved into the Covid Vaccine Clinic as the System Administrator for the Covid Vaccine Management System; a program that was completely built from scratch by the department of health to capture vaccinations given to all Victorian’s. I oversaw this for Ballarat and our surrounding regions.
This ignited my interest in IT systems so I then moved on to IT where I was the project officer for the new electronic Referral Management System for the Outpatient Department. An opportunity arose within Outpatients as the Clinics Administrator- this position is responsible for reviewing and updating policies and procedures & funding for clinics relating to Specialist Outpatients. I was just about to begin some work on the Colonoscopy referrals when this position came up so I thought it a great opportunity to be able to make some positive changes in an area of need.
Tell us about your family or hobbies?
I have a busy little boy (Lachie) who has just turned 1, so that doesn’t leave much time for hobbies! |
We look forward to sharing Fiona's staff profile in our next newsletter, Autumn 2025. |
Reflecting on 2024
GICS have had a bumper year and some members of the team have stopped to reflect on their achievements or personal highlights over the past 12 months. |
As we start to look forward to the turning of a new year I take this opportunity to look back on the year that that we have had and my what an exciting, energising an fulfilling year it has been!
During the year we have expanded our network and reinforced our connections and partnerships. Our projects and partnerships have spanned local, regional, statewide, national and international contexts.
Our key highlights have been in digitising supportive care screening in the Wimmera enhancing the visibility of these assessments and enabling real time access to inform individualised delivery of care. |
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Our long standing sms-based patient reported outcome project came to an end after supporting the feasibility of drawing on PRO’s to support clinical decision making. We worked in partnership with nursing team throughout the region to improve opportunities and experiences for patients in end of treatment planning and moving into survivorship.
As VICS co-leads of the Supportive Care focus area we participated in a statewide self assessment audit of the delivery of quality supportive care. The outcomes of the audit have identified areas for local and statewide improvement which we will focus on in the year ahead
Work undertaken in 2023 auditing care and treatment of patients with colorectal cancer across the optimal care pathway drew the attention of state and federal government we were successful in a funding proposal to commence a project looking at timely access to colonoscopy for patients with suspected bowel cancer.
GICS are very fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in an international study seeking to explore the clinical, financial and operational components of lung cancer delivery. The project will enable identification of areas for further improvement and optimisation which we will be focussing on during 2025.
Our grant programs allowed our clinical partners to access new professional development opportunities and to implement service improvement project ably supported our service improvement facilitators and consumer partners.
We take this opportunity to thank Dr Wasek Faisal (GICS Co-Clinical Director) and to Glenn Reeves (Service Improvement Facilitator) for their respective 3 and 7 years of valuable contributions to the GICS program.
We celebrate the extended footprint of the GICS team in welcoming members of the Colonoscopy Access project team (Fiona Hodder, Rebecca Dening, Gyan Govind and Jasmine Peldys) and Kath McCann as the project lead for the Simfonia Lung Cancer Project.
On behalf of the GICS team I take this opportunity to offer our sincere thanks for the dedication, passion and commitment of our health service partners, without which, none of our proud achievements would be possible.
To you and your families a safe and happy holiday season and a big, bright and fulfilling year ahead.
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September saw the release of the new Victorian Cancer Plan creating great opportunities for improve the experience of people with cancer in the Grampians region and I look forward to doing my bit to help.
I have the privilege of chairing the VICS Monitoring & Evaluation Framework Steering Committee which is working to ensure that we incorporate into our forward plan, the ability to monitor our progress and demonstrate our successes. |
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Over the past year, I have been involved in the development of the Cancer Service Capability Framework, which ensures that patients have access to appropriate safe treatment, and supports health services to identify areas for growth in the care they provide. This work has been incorporated into the Victorian Cancer Plan which has a focus on workforce and hearth service capacity building. |
I’ve been really pleased with how we’ve developed the GICS Small Grants program. We weren’t sure if this would be something that our cancer clinicians would take up, but it’s been so successful that we’ve had to expand the number of grants and ideas funded!
The program commenced in May 2024 with the aim of improving patient/carer access, experience and outcomes of cancer services in the Grampians. We’ve funded six great small projects that are currently being delivered.
It’s been such a pleasure to work with clinicians on these projects and we can’t wait to share the outcomes of this work with you soon. |
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A few things that have been a highlight for me are:
- Cancer Nurses Connection Breakfast - held on 6 December, this event created an opportunity for connection building for Nurses working in the Ballarat cancer sector
- The GICS Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) are making good progress in creating a resource package to assist support carers of people with cancer
- The GICS teams' data skills have been in hot demand, recently completing data gathering/analysis as part of a quality improvement activity with the GH Haematology team.
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Personally, it's been really great working with diverse members & consumers of the cancer sector, assisting them to articulate their improvement ideas and guiding them forwards to achieve their desired goals. |
This year has seen many highlights for me but the most rewarding ones have come from engaging with our stakeholders.
These key engagement opportunities have included:
Collaborating with health services to review and discuss current supportive care screening practices and discussing the best way forward for service development. These efforts aim not only to benefit staff and the health service but to enhance the experience and outcomes for the person diagnosed with cancer. |
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Continuing to support the GICS Service Improvement Grant recipients: Central Highlands Rural Health (CHRH) and their Moving Through Cancer wellness program, as well as the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative (BADAC) with their Cancer Awareness Calendar and workshops conducted throughout 2024.
Partnering with Grampians Health (GH) to prepare a McGrath Foundation funding application for a metastatic breast cancer nurse. GH were successful with this application, and I now continue to assist with service development for both this role and the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) funded Melanoma Nurse Coordinator position.
Collaborating with the Grampians Regional Palliative Care Team to host the Dying to Know Day 2024 event at the Ballarat Library in August. This event saw a fantastic turnout, and I hope we have the opportunity to do this again next year. |
GICS have increased our Data Capability with the appointment of Dr Damian Hernandez. Damian and I are working together to meet the data needs of both GICS and our stakeholders. New challenges include cancer dashboard development and familiarisation, as well as the opportunity to respond more quickly to data requests. A state-wide low risk Privacy Impact Assessment process means that data is more readily accessible where aggregated data is called for. We look forward to 2025 and the new challenges that will be presented. |
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Joining GICS and HRICS has been an incredible journey! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed supporting our melanoma nurse with data collection, planning, and education to improve patient care, it’s so rewarding to see the impact of small but meaningful contributions. Being part of the statewide Information Managers Group (IMG) has also been a highlight, collaborating with talented teams to tackle complex data challenges. I’m beyond excited to step into the role of IMG co-chair next year and look forward to sharing the exciting progress and achievements we’ll bring to GICS, HRICS and beyond! |
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Since commencing with the GICS team in 2020, this year has been the busiest and most rewarding yet.
The GICS team have made some great traction on some big service improvement projects across our region, and our grant funding programs are really making a difference to those who not only provide cancer care but also for those affected by cancer.
Personally, highlights for me was the launch of our new and improved website, which will only grow as our portfolio of work expands, along with being mentored by Comms guru, Maddison Gray, from WCMICS.
Seasons greetings! |
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If you would like to find out more about our local service improvement activities please reach out to the GICS team. |
Grampians Cancer Survivorship & Supportive Care Networking Workshop
On Thursday 31 October, GICS hosted our 2nd Grampians Cancer Survivorship & Supportive Care Networking Workshop, held in Ararat.
This event provided cancer care staff from across our region an opportunity to learn something new about local supportive & survivorship care initiatives that they can use in every day practice.
Attendees provided some valuable insights and feedback about the event, not unsurprisingly, most of the participants found the session with the consumers the most valuable part of the workshop. The consumers were so happy to share their experiences and it was fantastic to see everyone in the room completely engaged with them.
GICS are already excited to plan for and to expand on this networking opportunity for our next workshop in 2025. |
GICS Professional Development Grants - Applications Open
After the successful introduction of a Professional Development funding stream in 2023-24, GICS are pleased to advise that we are accepting Expressions of Interest applications from staff, working in cancer care, who would like to undertake Professional Development opportunities prior to 30 June 2025. |
During our inaugural funding round, GICS were able to support 57 staff working in oncology across the Grampians region, with recipients participating in a number of opportunities attending courses / training or conferences.
We encourage you to apply today and please share this newsletter / information with your peers working in cancer care. Eligibility criteria applies, visit our website for more information or click the button below to apply. |
CAG Corner
In conjunction with our annual thank-you lunch for our Consumer Advisory Group (CAG), pictured below, we were also fortunate enough to be able to take a tour through some of the spaces people receiving treatment in Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre (BRICC) visit.
Eight of our consumer members took part in the tour, which visited the treatment / mapping and nursing areas of Ballarat Austin Radiation Oncology Centre (BAROC), the Chemotherapy Day Unit (CDU) as well as the Wellness Centre.
Staff from each of the areas were generous in sharing their time and knowledge with the CAG to provide them with insights into the activities that occurred in the diverse range of spaces. It was a fantastic opportunity and the CAG were thoroughly grateful and impressed with the offerings at BRICC. |
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Project Wrap Up
Supported by a GICS Service Improvement Grant, we're pleased to advise that the project undertaken by Rural Northwest Health staff; Cancer Awareness, Support and Early Detection (CASED), has concluded.
This project, featured at our 2024 Annual Forum in October, was developed and implemented within the Yarriambiack Local Government Area to raise awareness on the most prevalent cancers, with a particular focus on breast, bowel, lung, prostate and melanoma.
A number of recommendations have been put forward to guide future drives to improve cancer literacy and to increase the update of cancer screening. For more information please read the report in full below. |
Ballarat Cancer Nurses Connection Breakfast
The first Ballarat cancer nurses' connection breakfast, held on 6 December, was attended by close to 30 nurses (pictured below) from the public and private cancer sector.
A lovely morning providing opportunity for social and professional connection in a relaxed atmosphere. It is anticipated similar events offering connection opportunity for cancer nurses will be organised for the future. |
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VICS Endometrial Cancer Summit
The Endometrial Cancer Summit held in Melbourne on Friday 22 November had more than 90 clinicians, consumers, and other stakeholders come together to discuss unwarranted variations in ashtag#Endometrial Cancer care at the latest VICS Optimal Care Summit.
The summit focused on 3 variations, prioritised by the VICS multidisciplinary expert advisory group:
- low rates of screening for ashtag#Supportive Care needs statewide
- variation between areas of Victoria in time between diagnosis of high-grade tumours and starting treatment
- lower survival rates in the Loddon Mallee region, for patients with high-grade tumours.
Participants discussed what factors contribute to these inequities and ideas for action to address them. With the help of our advisory group and other stakeholders, the VICS will now develop a ‘Victorian Endometrial Cancer Action Register’ to collect and share proposed actions.
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New OCP Development
Development of the Optimal Care Pathway for people living with cancer in rural and remote areas
Led by Associate Professor Anna Ugalde, the Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) research group has been awarded a $495,000 grant to support the development of an Optimal Care Pathway (OCP) tailored for people with cancer living in rural and remote areas.
Why do we need this new OCP? Whilst there are 30 OCPs for a range of tumour types; the Australian Cancer Plan also specifies the need for dedicated OCPs for priority populations. The Australian Cancer Plan identifies 10 priority populations who experience inequitable cancer outcomes; however, most of these populations do not yet have an OCP.
This new project, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care will develop a new OCP for people living in rural and remote Australia. It will include consumer facing resources, be translated to 10 languages, and an audio transcript. The MRFF funded ECORRA trial will then support its implementation across health services from 2026.
Our very own GICS Director, Kerry Davidson has been invited as a member to the working group for this project, however Deakin University are seeking multidisciplinary members to form a working group to develop the new OCP. They are seeking professionals and people with lived experience of cancer who provide direct or supportive cancer care in rural or remote settings in Australia.
For more information and to submit an expression of interest visit the Deakin website. |
Cancer Council Australia Survey
Out-of-Pocket Costs Associated with Cancer
Are you or someone you know receiving cancer treatment or surveillance?
Cancer Council Australia are currently conducting a crucial research study on the out-of-pocket costs associated with accessing cancer care in Australia, looking to gather data to better understand the financial burdens.
The insights gained will be instrumental in Cancer Council's policy and advocacy work to mitigate these costs.
All responses will be confidential and used solely for research purposes. Please help by sharing this survey through your networks.
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VCCC Alliance Update
Regional cancer workforce education initiative goes National
The VCCC Alliance has been awarded $962,276 from the Australian Government’s Cancer Patient Support Program grants to help drive improvements in regional cancer care, as part of a national regional workforce educational strategy.
First piloted in Victoria via the alliance’s Regional Cancer Partnership Forums, the program will deliver evidence-based resources for regional healthcare professionals including medical specialists, nurses, allied health professionals, researchers, educators, other generalist and specialist health professionals, and consumer advocates.
A comprehensive development process including surveys, interviews and consultations will ensure the content is tailored to identified needs of each regional area.
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Australian Cancer Survivorship Conference - Melbourne 2025
To be held at Rydges Melbourne during 6 - 7 March 2025, an exciting program is lined up that showcases innovation in survivorship care, research, advocacy and policy.
The theme - Building Capacity and Capacity in Survivorship Care and Research - will highlight the importance of advancing survivorship care from the individual to the health system perspective.
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Cancer Nurses Society of Australia - Annual Congress
The 2025 event will be held in Adelaide, South Australia, and the program will commence on Wednesday 18 June 2025, with a series of Pre-Congress Symposia, followed by a three day Congress program, featuring plenary and concurrent sessions, which will conclude at approximately midday on Saturday 21 June 2025.
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Sharing News
Please feel free to share or forward on our newsletter to your networks, family and friends.
If you have any forthcoming events or information you would like us to share, please forward your content to GICS Admin. |
Grampians Integrated Cancer Service (GICS)
PO Box 577, Ballarat, VIC 3353
Ph: (03) 5320 4782
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The Victorian Integrated Cancer Services are supported by the Victorian Government |
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