Grampians Health in global collaboration to optimise lung cancer care pathways
30 July 2024
Grampians Health has been selected to undertake an Australian-first health economic evaluation using digital tools to further optimise the care pathway for patients diagnosed with lung cancer.
Dubbed the ‘Simfonia’ project, it will be conducted in collaboration with Roche Diagnostics and is part of a global project that aims to further optimise how lung cancer care is delivered across communities.
Grampians Health is the second international site to go live after a successful project launch in Barcelona completed in 2023. This project’s necessity is underscored by local health data revealing that the Grampians region has a higher incidence of lung cancer than the state average in Victoria.*
“We are committed to providing quality care to our regional communities. The Simfonia project will help us unlock more value from our existing resources to further enhance care delivery for patients with lung cancer and will add on to our ongoing efforts to provide world-class lung cancer care across regional Victoria,” said Dr. Rob Grenfell, Chief Strategy and Regions Officer at Grampians Health.
Grampians Health is already demonstrating innovation and excellence in lung cancer care under Dr Wasek Faisal’s leadership and through the Rapid Access Lung Lesion Clinic (RALLC), where a multidisciplinary team of specialists from Oncology, Surgery and Respiratory Medicine are collaborating locally to provide streamlined and timely care at a local level.
Anticipated outcomes from Simfonia include optimising the patient pathway, improving the integration of services, maximising the use of diagnostic and care delivery resources and reviewing opportunities for new processes, technologies, and services.
“Roche has a global reputation for innovation. We believe this type of collaboration generates real world insights and strengthens our customers’ capability to optimise their health systems capacity and quality. This will directly benefit healthcare professionals and patients alike,” John Purdy, Global Healthcare Transformation Lead Consultant, Roche Diagnostics.
While the Simfonia project focuses on lung cancer care pathways, its approach could be extended to establish integrated healthcare services for other disease areas across the Australian healthcare system.
Improvements to lung cancer pathways will also ensure that Grampians Health is aligned with the new National Lung Cancer Screening Program. Screening services will begin for eligible people from July 2025, using low-dose computed tomography scans to look for lung cancer in high-risk people without any symptoms.
“Being selected for an opportunity like Simfonia allows Grampians Health to continue supporting timely innovation within the healthcare system, leading to more advanced patient care,” Dr. Grenfell said.
*(Grampians Region Population Health Plan 2023 – 2029, p.109)