• NEMICS Annual Forum - save the date
• NEW NEMICS website 
• New staff member Ashley Macleod
• New staff member Claire Rickard
• NEMICS news
• Education
• Tumour summits update
• Health professional survey - OCP implementation
• Health professional survey - cancer survivorship
• Fertility after cancer campaign
• Dedicated cancer website  

NEMICS has a new look website 

Meet our new staff members 

Ashley’s work at NEMICS will focus on how we can better understand and support the needs of people who identify as LGBTIQA+ throughout their cancer journey and beyond. Ashley brings with her a wealth of experience from academic, public service, and nonprofit government funded organisations (NGOs), and has a PhD in research psychology and health.   
 

“I’m so excited to be working with NEMICS to identify ways we can ensure people 
have access to safe, equitable and inclusive care.
It’s so important that we are partnering with and advocating for those who feel like their voices aren’t being heard, or who feel underrepresented in the community to make sure that everyone has access to care and services appropriate to their needs.” 

Claire Rickard 

NEMICS Project Manager | Eastern Health  

Claire joined NEMICS as the Project Manager based at Eastern Health. Claire previously worked for the Department of Health as a Public Health Officer within the COVID 19 Response. Claire is an experienced project manager with a Master of Public Health.  She brings with her experience within clinical cancer trials and addressing other complex health issues including diabetes and sexual and reproductive health. 

'I feel privileged to join such a great team and address these important issues.
Cancer has a devastating impact on people, their family and friends and it's important
to try and make that journey a little easier' 

Consumer Reference Group update 

Ken Bottrell, a member of NEMICS’ Consumer Reference Group has resigned from his position. Ken will be taking on other volunteer work, assisting communities in the Northern Territory with housing projects.

We would like to thank Ken for his dedication and commitment to the NEMICS program and for all that he has done to improve the care provided to people with cancer and their families across his 2.5 years with NEMICS.  

Service Improvement Grant start-up meeting  

NEMICS is very pleased to announce that on Thursday 15 September 2022, we held our first Service Improvement Grant start-up meeting. This provided a valuable opportunity for the 2022 grant recipients to share their work and fostered collaboration across the region.

Grant recipients expressed the value of learning about other projects. NEMICS will continue to support the Service Improvement Grant projects and create opportunities for networking. 

Training opportunity for allied health professionals

Cancer rehabilitation is considered part of best practice cancer care. NEMICS funding has enabled the development of an evidence-based cancer rehabilitation (CaRe) training program.  

The training program is for allied health professionals.  The aim is to increase knowledge and confidence to deliver cancer rehabilitation.

Program content will include:

• Cancer basics (e.g. physiology, terminology, treatments)
• Understanding the role of the multidisciplinary team
• Managing rehabilitation needs across the continuum
• Identifying patient needs and goal setting (including multi-disciplinary screening)
• Communicating with patients

The CaRe training program will offer 8-12 hours of face-to-face content, supplemented by online resources.

This will be delivered across 1-2 days at an Eastern Health site from December 2022 – January 2023

If you are an allied health professional working at a NEMICS site and
are interested in more information or registering, please contact:
Germain Tan, Project Manager
germaine.tan@easternhealth.org.au 

Cancer Council Training
ACCESS Program

• Build capacity of health services to respond to increased supportive care needs in patients and families 
• Support staff to initiate and complete referrals to Cancer Council Victoria to assist in addressing unmet practical, information and emotional needs. 

• Wednesday 16 November – 2:00-2:45pm   Click here to join the meeting
   
• Wednesday 30 November – 3:00-3:45pm   Click here to join the meeting

Tumour Summits Update

The Tumour Summits program recently delivered summits on pancreatic cancer and melanoma. 

The Pancreatic 2022 Summit took place online on Friday 26 August, co-chaired by A/Prof Charles Pilgrim and Prof Niall Tebbutt. A total of 90 participants attended the event and heard presentations on statewide data and progress since the 2017 pancreatic summit. 

Improvements since the 2017 summit include: 

• an uptake of neo-adjuvant therapy - increased from 4% to 16% 
• a reduction in the wait time from referral to the first health service appointment. In most cases, patients are seen within seven days. 

During small-group work, ideas have been generated for post-summit investigations of local data and further action. They cover the optimal care pathway steps – diagnosis, staging, and treatment planning; treatment; and end-of-life care. 

Visit www.tumoursummits.org.au to view the presentation and report.  
 

The Melanoma 2022 Summit was a hybrid event held in Melbourne CBD and online, on Friday 14 October. A/Profs Victoria Mar and Phillip Parente co-chaired the event, which was well attended, with 70 people in person and 10 online. 

The post-summit communications for melanoma will be made available by mid-November. 

A survey of health professional needs - 
Implementing the Optimal Care Pathways (OCP) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer

Can you help us prioritise areas for improvement in
cancer survivorship care?

The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (ACSC) and Victorian Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) are working together to improve cancer survivorship care across Victoria.

We would like to provide you with an opportunity to have your say in prioritising the areas of cancer survivorship care for upcoming state-wide improvement activities.

The poll will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and closes 4 November 2022.  

Have your say now:  https://redcap.link/cancersurvivorshipcarepoll

For questions or comments, please contact:
Jesvinder Kaur, NEMICS Survivorship Care Project Manager
Jesvinder.kaur@austin.org.au

Fertility after cancer

1. Egg freezing
2. Embryo freezing 
3. Ovarian transportation 
4. Sperm banking 
5. Tissue banking
6. Testicular sperm extraction

Dedicated cancer website for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people