Using telehealth to increase access to Clinical Trials

Clinical trials provide cancer patients with the opportunity to access new treatments, therapies and technologies. MPCCC is currently working with Monash Health, Latrobe Regional Hospital, the Gippsland Regional Integrated Cancer Service and the Victorian State Government to deliver the Monash-Gippsland Teletrials Project, which will establish a clinical trials centre at Latrobe Regional Hospital.

Clinical trials are most commonly conducted within large metropolitan tertiary hospitals that have established research capacity and capability. This means cancer patients living in rural and regional Victoria face several barriers to accessing clinical trials, including the cost and time involved with travelling to a clinical trials site, and the impact this has on their carers, family and friends. Research shows rural and regional patients make up less than a third of all patients participating in Victorian clinical trials, and they experience lower five-year survival rates than those living in metropolitan areas.  MPCCC is keen to address these inequities.