News

Statement – Oncology Services

Oct 01, 2016

Mildura Base Hospital’s significant advances in locally-based cancer care services are expected to have a positive impact on outcomes for cancer patients in the region.

MBH executive officer Julia Morgan said much of the data contained in the Garvan Report pre-dated significant upgrades to services at MBH, including improvements to facilities and the appointment of the region’s first full-time oncologist.

The MBH Oncology Department underwent a half million-dollar upgrade in 2013 which is now allowing many more patients to receive treatment in a dedicated Oncology Ward serviced by a permanent oncologist.

Ms Morgan said the upgrade tripled the size of the Oncology Department, and doubled the number of chemotherapy chairs to eight.

“We service an area population of 60,000 people who are hundreds of kilometres from the nearest tertiary health facilities in Bendigo, Adelaide and Melbourne,” Ms Morgan said.

“As with elsewhere in Victoria, the incidence of cancer here is rising due to the ageing population and better diagnosis, but our incidence rates are also impacted by our remoteness, a higher Aboriginal population and higher-than-average smoking rates.”

The Victorian Cancer Registry estimates there are 3000 cancer patients in Mildura, with 300 new cases diagnosed each year.

However, Ms Morgan said without a specific separate geographical territory for Mildura, it was difficult to draw reliable data to make meaningful interpretations.

“The Cancer Council and LMICS collect and maintain data for the Loddon-Mallee Region, but Mildura patients can be treated at Bendigo, Swan Hill, Melbourne or Adelaide as well as private hospitals in various centres,” she said.

“Here in Mildura we also get patients from NSW and SA and the data for these patients will be included in their respective states,” she said.

Ms Morgan said what was known was that the availability of services locally would very likely have a positive impact on individual outcomes.

“We have made terrific progress in this over the past three years, including having access to specific cancer care nurses to support breast cancer and prostate cancer patients and their families,” she said.

“It’s not only the stress and inconvenience that patients experience with organising and travelling for treatment at other centres, we just know patients handle their treatment better and respond more positively if they are in a familiar environment, in their own home and with their support people close to them.”