Inside News

45 / 64

Radiation Oncology
Volume 12 No 3 I June 2016 45
A Message
from the Dean
Dr Dion Forstner
Advocacy
The Faculty has been actively engaged
with the Department of Health (DoH) in
Australia during this critical time when
both the Medicare Benefits Schedule
(MBS) and the Radiation Oncology
Health Program Grants (ROHPG) are
being reviewed. In early April, Ms Sonja
Cronjé, Senior Executive Officer of the
Faculty and I met with key staff from the
Radiation Oncology Section of the DoH
to discuss our priority issues, including
the intensity modulated radiation
therapy and image guided radiation
therapy item numbers, the ROHPG
review and the future of the Australian
Clinical Dosimetry Service (ACDS).
The MBS Review Oncology Clinical
Committee has been established, and
we are fortunate that three Faculty
members (Prof Michael Barton, Prof
Liz Kenny and A/Prof Chris Milross) are
members of that committee, which had
its first face-to-face meeting on 29 April
in Sydney.
The Faculty also formalised an MBS
Review Working Group, under the
leadership of Prof Liz Kenny, to be the
advisory body to the Faculty on changes
or proposed changes emerging from
/ related to the MBS Review. I am
confident that with the support and
input from these members, the Faculty
will be able to advocate for an improved
funding structure for radiation oncology
in Australia.
If you have any views or comments on
the MBS review, please contact us on
. Anyone who is
interested in keeping up to date with the
activities of the MBS Review Taskforce
can review the MBS Newsletters at
publishing.nsf/Content/MBSR-
newsletters
Profile and Presence of Radiation
Oncology
Congratulations to Dr Peter Gorayski,
whose abstract ‘Targeting Cancer:
Results of a National Radiation Oncology
Advocacy Platform aimed at General
Practitioners and Consumers’ has been
accepted for an oral presentation
at GP16, the 2016 Annual Scientific
Meeting of The Royal Australian College
of General Practitioners. It is a great
opportunity to reach out to the wider
GP community and to improve their
knowledge of radiation therapy.
Five sessions of presentations on
radiation therapy are planned through
HealthEd (a private GP education
provider). These sessions will take place
from August to November this year, and
are estimated to reach about 2,500 GPs.
I encourage all members to participate
in Targeting Cancer activities, to help
raise the profile of our profession, and
ultimately increase the utilisation rate of
radiation therapy. For more information
about the Targeting Cancer campaign,
please see the article on page 19 in this
edition.
Please contact if
you are interested in getting involved.
Tripartite Radiation Oncology
Practice Standards
Since the Tripartite Radiation Oncology
Practice Standards (the Standards) were
published in 2011, the Faculty has been
advocating for the implementation of the
Standards in all facilities in Australia and
New Zealand. However, only Queensland
has formally adopted the Standards.
In response to the MBS Review
Consultation, the Faculty listed
mandatory national implementation of
the Standards as one of the priorities for
government consideration.
Last year a tripartite working group
was formed to proactively progress the
implementation of the Standards. As a
first step, the group has developed a
self-assessment tool to assist facilities to
reflect on their own quality management
systems and assess how well they
currently comply with the Standards. I
encourage all radiation therapy practices
to use the tool for self-assessment, which
is available from the College website
at
radiation-oncology/tripartite-radiation-
oncology-practice-standards
The Standards Working Group is also
exploring the possibility of working with
the Australian Council on Healthcare
Standards (ACHS) to map the Radiation
Oncology Practice Standards against
the National Standards, and develop
an accreditation plan. We will keep our
members informed of the progress.
Scope of Practice for Radiation
Oncology
The Faculty has recently established a
Radiation Oncology Scope of Practice
Working Group with members who have
an interest in the sustainability of the
profession, clinical practice and quality
and safety in patient care.