Government invests $5m into the Australian Real World Cancer Evidence Network

In a groundbreaking move to revolutionise personalised cancer care in Australia, The Australian Government – through Cancer Australia - has pledged a $5 million investment into the Australian Real World Cancer Evidence Network. This initiative, spearheaded by Movember and Monash University, will involve the implementation of a national platform to track the outcomes and experiences of cancer patients. Automated technology that will rapidly advance personalised cancer care research, and help bridge the gap between evidence and clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.

Every five minutes, an Australian is diagnosed with cancer. It's a health condition that's rapidly overtaking cardiovascular disease as the most common cause of death in Australia. Despite significant advancements in diagnostics, therapies, and cancer care over the past decade, the quality of treatment that a patient receives is still very much dependent on where they live. These disparities can lead to variations in quality of life and clinical care, and they can significantly impact outcomes for people diagnosed with cancer.

In response to these challenges, a group of patients, clinicians, patient advocacy organisations, and philanthropic leaders have come together to establish the Australian Real World Cancer Evidence Network. Over the next five years, this Network aims to transform healthcare outcomes for Australians living with one of ten types of cancer types. These cancers collectively represent nearly 50% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases. This will be achieved through:

• A cutting-edge pan-cancer research and translation platform that will embed patient-reported outcomes and patient-reported experiences for people diagnosed, and living with, a broad range of cancers.
• National cancer performance monitoring and reporting which will enable better assessment of services and establish an evidence base to ensure equitable outcomes for all Australians.
• A comprehensive pan-cancer clinical benchmarking program at multiple levels to include clinicians, hospitals, and healthcare providers.
• Increased automation of clinical data collection for Cancer Clinical Quality Registries which will allow effective and sustainable monitoring, measurement, and benchmarking of patient outcomes.

With expert stakeholders from across the Australian cancer community, the initiative aims to dramatically transform standards of cancer treatment and care. It will deliver on one of the key elements of the Australian Cancer Plan and positively impact Australians living with a number of different cancer types, including gynaecological, bowel, melanoma, thyroid, pancreatic, oesophagogastric, prostate and lung cancers as well as lymphoma and myeloma cancers.