Cancer Statewide Clinical Network

The Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work is pro­vid­ing strate­gic exper­tise relat­ing to the con­tent of the South Aus­tralian Can­cer Plan. For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it the SA Can­cer Plan web­page on the SA Health website.

Devel­op­ment of a statewide germline test­ing frame­work for can­cer care. To view the main­stream genet­ic test­ing packs please vis­it the AGU Web­site on the SA Health website.

Can­cer nav­i­ga­tion refers to how a patient nav­i­gates can­cer care and is a key ele­ment of coor­di­nat­ed, per­son-cen­tred care and sup­port. Can­cer nav­i­ga­tion works to improve access to care and con­ti­nu­ity of care, par­tic­u­lar­ly among pop­u­la­tions expe­ri­enc­ing unmet needs and dis­par­i­ties in can­cer care. 

The Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work (SCN) rat­ed effi­cient and equi­table can­cer nav­i­ga­tion as the high­est pri­or­i­ty to improve and address in 2023. This was iden­ti­fied through a com­pre­hen­sive work­shop­ping process under­tak­en with the SCCN to iden­ti­fy and pri­ori­tise net­work projects. 

We’re excit­ed to part­ner with the Car­ing Futures Insti­tute (CFI) on the ​‘Can­cer Nav­i­ga­tion Project’, to devel­op South Aus­tralian can­cer nav­i­ga­tion frame­work, which imag­ines a future where the high­est stan­dard of health­care is avail­able to all and where peo­ple are tru­ly at the centre. 

The Can­cer Nav­i­ga­tion Project will soon com­mence con­sumer and stake­hold­er (includ­ing can­cer care pro­fes­sion­als, gov­ern­ment, and non-gov­ern­ment organ­i­sa­tions) engage­ment to co-design the frame­work and imple­men­ta­tion plan and con­sid­er appli­ca­tion to the South Aus­tralian Can­cer Plan cur­rent­ly under development. 

The SA Can­cer Plan is envis­aged to set the future direc­tion of can­cer care across SA and helps to iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties to cre­ate a coor­di­nat­ed, inte­grat­ed, equi­table, evi­dence-based, per­son­alised care sys­tem across the can­cer con­tin­u­um. Key intend­ed clin­i­cal ben­e­fits include: 

• Improved time­ly access to and pro­vi­sion of safe and acces­si­ble ser­vices that are inclu­sive of mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary teams, as close to home as pos­si­ble for patients. 
• Improved health sta­tus of the South Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion whilst devel­op­ing a health sys­tem that facil­i­tates equi­ty of access. 
• Cre­ation of a respon­sive health sys­tem that meets the needs of the community. 

The Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work have led col­lab­o­ra­tions with a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary group of clin­i­cians and researchers across all local health net­works to out­line what is need­ed to facil­i­tate the deliv­ery of CAR T‑cells in South Aus­tralia. A project has been ini­ti­at­ed to inves­ti­gate and for­mu­late strate­gies to estab­lish a CAR T‑cell ther­a­py ser­vice in South Australia. 

Chimeric Anti­gen Recep­tor T‑cell (CAR T‑cell) Ther­a­py is an evi­dence-based, inter­na­tion­al­ly recog­nised ther­a­py endorsed by Can­cer Aus­tralia and the Aus­tralian Gov­ern­ment Med­ical Spe­cial­ist Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee (MSAC) which can improve chance of cure for cer­tain types of leukaemia and lym­phoma. The estab­lish­ment of a South Aus­tralian ser­vice would allow patients to access this care clos­er to home there­by improv­ing their qual­i­ty of life. It would also enhance equi­ty of access for those who may be unable to trav­el inter­state to receive this treatment. 

What is CAR T‑cell ther­a­py? An intro­duc­tion to CAR T‑cell ther­a­py video has been pub­lished by NSW Health Immune Effec­tor Cell Ser­vice which was in part­ner­ship with the NSW Agency for Clin­i­cal Innovation. 

For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it the Agency for Clin­i­cal Infor­ma­tion web­site.

Can­cer care in Aus­tralia is best pro­vid­ed by a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary team of pro­fes­sion­als. Reg­u­lar mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary team (MDT) meet­ings are an inte­gral com­po­nent of pro­vid­ing com­pre­hen­sive care to peo­ple with can­cer. Dur­ing these meet­ings, clin­i­cians review the radi­ol­o­gy and pathol­o­gy results and dis­cuss the most appro­pri­ate treat­ment plan for an indi­vid­ual patient. 

In South Aus­tralia, there are more than 30 MDT meet­ings occur­ring every month inte­grat­ed across the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tor, how­ev­er cur­rent­ly, there is no state-wide stan­dard­ised approach to doc­u­ment­ing MDTs’ and cap­tur­ing MDT data. We are work­ing toward imple­ment­ing a plat­form that con­nects vital patient infor­ma­tion and results in order to bet­ter sup­port the impor­tant deci­sion mak­ing and planning. 

The Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work has con­tributed to out­lin­ing MDT spec­i­fi­ca­tion require­ments, based on the out­comes of a stake­hold­er engage­ment work­shop which involved clin­i­cal experts and consumers.