As part of a recent 9-month strategic consultation, the VICS Optimal Care Summits team surveyed 45 multidisciplinary health professionals across the state who are involved in oesophagogastric cancer care. The survey was designed by the VICS in collaboration with an advisory group of 19 multidisciplinary experts from across Victoria, to identify perceived unwarranted variations in oesophagogastric cancer care and the barriers, enablers and preferences for optimal care.
Respondents prioritised, as key unwarranted variations:
time to treatment
access to supportive care
time to diagnosis
access to clinical trials.
Key barriers to optimal care, commonly reported by respondents, were:
workforce issues
timely access to care (including multidisciplinary meetings, treatment and supportive care)
lack of centralised care.
Enablers and preferences for providing optimal care included:
streamlining and centralising referral pathways
improving access to diagnostics
access to multidisciplinary meetings (MDMs)
investing in a multidisciplinary workforce (including supportive care and care coordinators/navigators)
pre- and rehabilitation
strong relationships between patients and their GPs.
The survey results informed identification and prioritisation of 20 unwarranted variations in oesophagogastric cancer care and outcomes, discussion of the top 3 priority variations at our summit event in March 2024, and a proposed register of actions to address unwarranted variations (to be published in June).
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