National Cancer Programme Update: June 2013
Welcome to the second edition of our National Cancer Programme update. We will send you
a new update every two months, to keep you informed about key areas of our work
programme.
Please forward this update to colleagues who may find it useful. If you don’t want to receive
these updates, please reply to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.
Faster Cancer Treatment documents now on NSFL website
Operational documents relating to the Faster Cancer Treatment (FCT) Programme will be
kept in one place on the National Service Framework Library website. You can access them
easily here.
Currently available are data definitions for faster cancer treatment indicators, the FCT
database business rules and the letter sent to DHBs in October 2012 detailing updated
reporting requirements for the FCT indicators. Other documents will be added as needed.
Draft tumour standards
More than 160 submissions have been received on the draft tumour standards, providing
valuable feedback for consideration.
This is excellent and the effort that has gone into reviewing and sending in the feedback is
very much appreciated. The chairs of the tumour standard working groups and the project
managers are now meeting to discuss the tumour standards and consistency of content.
The tumour standard working groups will review the feedback and update the tumour
standard documents. We expect final standards to be published on the Ministry of Health
website in mid-November 2013. You can download the draft standards here
Cancer nurse coordinators
There are now 49 cancer nurse coordinators appointed in part-time and full-time positions
across 18 DHBs, with more appointments pending.
The cancer nurse coordinator roles have been implemented in different ways across the
country and managing this to ensure a consistent approach will be a key focus. As these
are new roles, nurses will also need to quickly set parameters for the role and establish what
can and cannot be achieved within the position.
The first Cancer Nurse Coordinator National Forum will be in Wellington on 28 June 2013.
Contact: NatalieJ@adhb.govt.nz
Evaluation of the cancer nurse coordinator initiative
The evaluation team from Litmus is continuing to liaise with DHBs in a phased way to
discuss the draft indicator framework, requirements, and processes for data collection
(including support for patient and family/whānau experience survey tools).
Liz and Ingrid from Litmus will be at the Cancer Nurse Coordinator National Forum in
Wellington on 28 June 2013 to present an update on the evaluation and answer any
questions.
Contact: Liz Smith liz@litmus.co.nz or Ingrid McDuff ingrid@litmus.co.nz
Prostate Cancer Awareness and Quality Improvement Programme funding
The Government has allocated $4.3 million over four years for a range of initiatives to raise
awareness of prostate cancer and ensure men have fair access to quality information and
care.
The funding will be used to develop information resources for men and their families, create
tools to help GPs talk to their patients about prostate cancer tests and treatment, and
develop standards to ensure equal access to quality care.
To guide this work, the Ministry has developed a Prostate Cancer Awareness and Quality
Improvement Programme (AQIP), based on recommendations from the expert Prostate
Cancer Taskforce. The AQIP sets out when and how the recommendations will be
implemented.
You can download the Prostate Cancer AQIP here and the Prostate Cancer Taskforce report
here
Contact: Mhairi Porteous mhairi_porteous@moh.govt.nz
Medical Oncology Models of Care implementation
Work on developing a knowledge and skills framework for oncology nursing is underway. It
will include:

standards of knowledge and skills from an undergraduate nursing level to registered
nurse level, working in non-specialist and specialist cancer areas and advanced practice
roles such as clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners

development of new nursing roles for the future such as enrolled nurse and other
expanded practice roles.
Workshops are being held to gain input and feedback from cancer nurses from a wide range
of settings and will cover discussion on the content and format of the framework,
identification of potential new and expanded roles for cancer nurses into the future, and
ways the framework could be used and implemented at national and DHB level.
A range of stakeholders have been involved in this work including the Office of the Chief
Nurse, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, and district health board directors of nursing.
The final draft knowledge and skills framework will be submitted to the Nursing Consortium
of New Zealand (the body responsible for endorsing the framework) by March 2014.
Contact: Julie Cairns JCairns@adhb.govt.nz, juliecairns@ynet.co.nz
Bowel Screening Pilot results
Results for the first year of the bowel screening pilot (January to December 2012) show
cancer was detected in 60 participants. In some people, more than one cancer was found.
More than 60 percent of cancers detected were at an earlier stage than would usually be
seen in a clinical setting where people have symptoms.
In the first year of the pilot, 54,450 people were invited to take part and more than 29,000
returned a sample that was tested by the laboratory. More than 2200 people returned a
positive sample and were offered a colonoscopy.
The bowel screening pilot will run in the Waitemata DHB area until the end of 2015. Full
results and monitoring indicators can be viewed here
Bowel screening pilot evaluation
The Ministry has commissioned Litmus and Sapere Research Group to evaluate the Bowel
Screening Pilot.
Information gained through the evaluation will help determine whether a bowel screening
programme should be rolled out nationally.
Two early reports have been completed. Evaluation of the Bowel Screening Pilot: Eligible
Population Perspectives looks at the experience of bowel screening pilot participants.
It also contains qualitative research into Māori and Pacific populations that did not take up
the opportunity to be screened and explores the barriers to participation.
Evaluation of the Bowel Screening Pilot: Findings from 2012 Immersion Visit details the
results of an immersion visit undertaken in September 2012 to gain a detailed understanding
of the early implementation of the bowel screening pilot, from those involved with its design,
implementation and day-to-day operations.
National Endoscopy Quality Improvement Programme
Auckland gastroenterologist Dr Tim King has been appointed Endoscopist Training Lead. Dr
King is a consultant gastroenterologist at Auckland DHB. He is also Chair of the New
Zealand Conjoint Committee and has expertise in adult education.
In conjunction with Dr Russell Walmsley he has pioneered the ‘Train the Trainer’ course for
colonoscopy which has run in New Zealand for six years.
Gendy Bradford, Charge Nurse Manager at Canterbury DHB, has been appointed Nursing
Workforce Development Lead. She will support roll out of the Endoscopy Knowledge and
Skills Framework.
The framework, which is used in the appraisal of endoscopy nurses and development of
professional learning plans, was developed to create greater consistency in endoscopy
nursing across the country.
It is hoped the framework will lift the skill level of endoscopy nurses, provide a career
pathway in endoscopy and lead to the development of senior endoscopy nursing roles.
The second stage of the national roll-out of the quality improvement tool GRS (Global Rating
Scale) was completed in May. The third stage of the GRS roll-out will take place in August.
Contact: Dr David Theobald, Clinical Director david.theobald@bopdhb.govt.nz
Jenni Masters, Sector Implementation Director jenni.masters@bopdhb.govt.nz
Nicola Wilson, Programme Manager nicola.wilson@bopdhb.govt.nz
National Liverpool Care Pathway Office closure
The National Liverpool Care Pathway Office will close at the end of June 2013.
The office was established in 2008 to promote the use of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP)
tool in hospices, hospital level residential care facilities and hospitals across New Zealand.
Seed funding was provided by the Ministry of Health to support the establishment of the
office and implementation of the tool. The time limited funding ends on 30 June 2013.
The work of the LCP office has seen the tool successfully implemented in 85 percent of
hospices, 62 percent of public hospitals and 69 percent of residential aged care facilities.
The Ministry supports the continued use of the LCP as one tool to guide best practice end of
life care. No change to the existing delivery of the LCP tool in care settings is expected as a
result of the National LCP Office closure.
Palliative care glossary
The Palliative Care Council of New Zealand, the Ministry of Health and Hospice New
Zealand have developed the New Zealand Palliative Care Glossary as a first step in creating
a common language for palliative care.
The glossary is a response to confusion brought about by the use of terms which have
various meanings.
The three organisations will now use the glossary terms in all documentation and
correspondence. You can download the glossary here
Update on regional palliative care forums
Four regional palliative care forums were held in March and April this year to update the
palliative care sector on the joint work programmes of the Ministry, the Palliative Care
Council and Hospice New Zealand.
There was general agreement that gains could be made in the way services are delivered if
providers are able to work together to create efficiencies. A workshop on the Resource and
Capability Framework for Integrated Adult Palliative Care Services in New Zealand
generated a great deal of discussion, particularly around the concept of a hub and spoke
model.
Strong support was voiced for shared national or regional resources such as agreed triage
models, referral and clinical guidelines. You can read the Resource and Capability
Framework here