Cancer Control Update No 1 December 2006
Publication Date: 30 November 2006
Welcome to this first update from the Cancer Control Council of New Zealand. The Council is the independent advisory body charged with making sure the Cancer Control Strategy is turned into action. It is appointed by the Minister of Health and provides independent advice to him.
We plan to email an update to all our stakeholders every two months. It will give you information on the Council’s projects, meetings and reports as well as developments within cancer control. If you or anyone you know would like to receive the update contact us.
In this update:
Cancer Control Strategy monitoring and review
Sharing the learning from cancer projects
Next Cancer Control Council meeting
Cancer Control Strategy monitoring and review
One of the Cancer Control Council’s key tasks is to monitor and review implementation of the Cancer Control Strategy. Following consultation with stakeholders, the Council is now finalising the framework it will use to do this. This will be presented at the Council’s next meeting in February. The first monitoring and review report will be presented to the Minister of Health by 30 June 2007.
Survey of cancer patients
The Cancer Control Council is planning to carry out a national survey of cancer patients next year to find out their experience of care. The survey will enable patients in New Zealand to provide feedback on the care they receive, from physical comfort and emotional support to respect for their preferences and coordination of their care.
The Council will repeat the survey periodically to ensure the Cancer Control Strategy is improving patient-centred care and reducing the impact of cancer on patients, their families and whānau. The Council will carry out the survey with Public Health Intelligence, the Ministry of Health’s epidemiology group.
Regional cancer networks
During the past two months the Cancer Control Council’s secretariat has had the opportunity to meet several working groups involved in setting up regional cancer networks. The Council has also been briefed by the Ministry of Health’s Principal Advisor Cancer Control, John Childs, on the varying stages of development of the four proposed networks.
According to Dr Childs, the following elements have influenced progress:
- committed clinical leadership
- allocated regional project management resource
- clearly identified and committed CEO sponsor
- commitment to credible stakeholder involvement.
Regional cancer networks are not only critical to coordinating patients’ care between cancer services and bringing consumers and providers together at a regional level. They will also form the building blocks for developing a Cancer Control Collaborative to foster collaboration at a national level. As the networks develop the Council is looking at how they might feed into a national collaborative.
Sharing the learning from cancer projects
Cancer Control Council members attended the Ministry of Health-sponsored Sharing the Learning Symposium last month which presented the results of 23 cancer control implementation projects funded by the Ministry. It was a great opportunity to hear about the innovative projects happening around the country and for project teams to share their findings and experiences.
Summing up the first day of the symposium, Council member Tony Blakely highlighted five themes that had emerged:
- the focus on culture – most notably Māori and Pacific culture as being different from the mainstream culture. He raised the issue, though, that we may need to reflect more on the dominant culture and how this influences the way health systems are structured
- a need for better information, both for consumers and policy planners and providers
- a growing commitment to the concept of advocates and patient navigators to help cancer patients through the health system
- there appeared to be major issues with cancer patients being able to afford to travel to service providers, and problems with access to WINZ entitlements
- the need for cooperation and collaboration at a national level was a dominant theme, and something which the Council would facilitate.
Cervical cancer vaccine
The Cancer Control Council issued a media release on the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, following the Australian Government’s announcement that the vaccine would be included in the Australian national immunisation programme from April 2007. The media release pointed out that the New Zealand government had a unique window of opportunity to address inequalities around cancer as it decided whether the vaccine should be included in the national immunisation schedule.
Palliative Care New Zealand
Bob Fox of the proposed national organisation for palliative care, Palliative Care New Zealand, addressed the Cancer Control Council at its meeting this month. Discussion centred on how such an organisation could work alongside the Council to enhance collaboration across the palliative care sector.
Establishing a new umbrella organisation for palliative care services was one of the cancer control implementation projects funded by the Ministry of Health. As a result of that project, the Palliative Care Advisory Committee has applied to the Ministry for seed funding to establish the organisation and reasonable ongoing funding to sustain and develop the organisation for five years.
Next Cancer Control Council meeting
The Cancer Control Council meets every two months. The next meeting is on 15 February 2007 in Auckland.
Questions and answers
View questions and answers on the Cancer Control Council.
