The establishment of a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East has been scrapped.

An independent feasibility study has found that the establishment of a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East to deliver cancer care is not “currently a safe, sustainable, or financially viable option”.

The design and planning of the new Mount Gambier Cancer Care Centre have been on hold while the feasibility study into radiation therapy services was undertaken.

The feasibility study has recommended changes to how cancer care is delivered in the region.

The Limestone Coast Local Health Network Governing Board announced that it would pursue changes to the cancer treatment regimen, reduced requirements for travel, and the establishment of dedicated local cancer leadership, as well as advocate for adequate compensation for travel.

LCLHN governing board chair, Dr Andrew Saies, welcomed the report’s findings and thanked everyone involved in the extensive process.

“Mount Gambier Hospital currently delivers a best practice cancer care service with two resident oncologists, an oncology nurse practitioner, cancer care coordinators, chemotherapy nurses, breast care, prostate cancer, and palliative care nurses,” Dr Saies said in a statement.

“They are supported by a team of allied health professionals and GPs in the region, including visiting haemotologists and radiation oncologists,” he said.

“The independent study has found that there are improvements we can make to reduce the requirement for travel and the associated impact that travel has on local people receiving cancer treatment.”

According to LCLHN, independent consultants looked at private radiation therapy services operating elsewhere in regional Australia and found that using a fly-in, fly-out workforce was a compromise to the optimum continuum of care available in metropolitan hospitals and centres.

“Our Board and our clinicians do not want cancer patients in our region to have less than optimum care for this life-changing disease,” Dr Saies said.

“Patient safety and clinical care must be our priority and the study found extreme work force risks in the proposed service.

“Further, those risks cannot be mitigated by simply spending money – care is more important than convenience.”

The report found that the proposal is not clinically viable because the workforce and specialist services would be unable to maintain a safe and reliable service.

It found that establishing a linear accelerator (Linac) in Mount Gambier is not currently sustainable because of an insufficient population to utilise more than about 50 per cent of the capacity of the Linac treatment service, which would further add to the workforce and financial challenges.

“If a service were established, more than half of local cancer patients in the region would still need to travel to Adelaide for radiotherapy.

“The proposed Linac radiation therapy service, which is the best available for a regional setting, would not be a suitable treatment for their type of cancer,” LCLHN stated.

Dr Saies said the governing board had thoroughly considered the report and briefed the Radiation Therapy Limestone Coast Working Party on Tuesday evening (July 30).

The governing board recommended four of the study’s nine options.

“We want to provide certainty to cancer patients and the people who care for them about the future of cancer care services in the region,” Dr Saies said.

“We have reviewed and thoroughly considered what the independent study has found and have recommended the options that we believe will provide the most immediate benefits for the community to access comprehensive cancer care close to home.

“These changes should result in a significant reduction in the number of days of travel and nights away from home for Limestone Coast patients and their families.

“This will improve their social and emotional wellbeing and reduce barriers to treatment. These options enhance the cancer care capability in the region and deliver increased access to best practice cancer care and better treatment outcomes.”

Dr Saies said the LCLHN would now investigate how to best address, fund, and implement four recommendations:

• A treatment regimen known as hypofractionation, in which the total dose of radiation is divided into larger doses per treatment, resulting in fewer treatments and shorter overall treatment durations compared to conventional practice.
• Undertaking pre-treatment positioning, stabilization, and imaging for treatment planning of a radiation therapy course at Mount Gambier Hospital to reduce travel.
• Dedicated local cancer care leadership.
• Advocating for more compensation for travel and other financial impacts. 

This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
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