An Australian collaboration led by researchers at Monash Health and Monash University has developed and validated a new tool, and used it to assess how people with chronic diseases, including cancer, feel about the COVID-19 vaccine. The large study was conducted across 9 Australian health services during the national COVID-19 [...]
The uptake of telehealth by both patients and health professionals during COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity to reform the future care of people with cancer and many other health conditions. Published last month in the Internal Medical Journal (IMJ), 'Telehealth in cancer care: during and beyond the COVID‐19 pandemic' provides expert guidance [...]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Victoria’s health care workers are likely to encounter moral distress, anxiety and regret arising from ethical challenges in cancer care. Professor Clare Delany, Clinical Ethicist and Chair of the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network (VCCN) Clinical Ethics Expert Advisory Group, explains that moral distress typically occurs when [...]
Since March 2020, the MPCCC has been working closely with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre to deliver a coordinated response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to cancer care through the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network. The network recently launched the 'Cancer Never Stops' campaign, which aims to encourage [...]
In response to an urgent need for administrative support and workforce training during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff from Victoria’s eight region-based Integrated Cancer Services (ICS) were reassigned across Victoria’s health services in late March. The Victorian Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) comprise clusters of hospitals and health services that deliver cancer [...]
Essential cancer surgery and screening procedures will continue in Victoria’s public hospitals following the Victorian government’s rapid response to advice from the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network’s (VCCN) Clinical Directors expert group. Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services released a policy in mid-July that will enable surgical procedures necessary for [...]
Preventing further delays in diagnosis and clinical treatment for breast cancer is a top priority for the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network’s (VCCN) Breast Cancer Advisory Group, which was established under the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Taskforce in late March 2020. Data from Cancer Council Victoria and the Victorian Cancer Registry indicated [...]
Victorian health services are concerned about increasing levels of depression and anxiety among healthcare workers due to the pressures created by COVID-19. The situation was reviewed by an expert panel on 9 July, convened by the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network’s “Cancer and COVID” webinar series. Results of a small-scale study [...]
MPCCC has joined forces with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) alliance to help Victoria’s front line clinical teams adjust to managing cancer prevention, treatment and palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic. One outcome of the new MPCCC and VCCC collaboration is the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network (VCCN), a communications [...]
Telehealth has become a vital tool for the care and safety of cancer patients during COVID-19 and has highlighted a variety of sustainable opportunities for the future provision of cancer services in Victoria. Latest data derived from the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network’s (VCCN) Telehealth Expert Group chaired by Associate Professor [...]
