Cancer Treatment Goes Fully Digital in Loddon Mallee Region of Victoria, Australia

A shared chemotherapy management platform has been launched in Victoria to improve patient outcomes and continuity of care.

The five-year agreement with Citadel Health has created a shared electronic oncology management solution to streamline more than 10,000 chemotherapy treatments episodes each year with CHARM Evolution®. The new solution extends across the Loddon Mallee region covering Mildura, Bendigo, Echuca, Swan Hill, Kerang and Kyneton.

With CHARM Evolution®, all six hospitals now have a centralised patient record with access to treatment plans, appointment scheduling and simplified reporting. Patients transferred between facilities have all their chemotherapy history available in the one central database, giving teams a holistic view of the treatment plan. The powerful reporting and forecasting features have already been used to triage patients during COVID restrictions in the state of Victoria.

Health services across the Loddon Mallee Region have implemented Charm EVOLUTION to support all doctors and nurses involved in the care of oncology patients.

To manage cancer treatments while Victoria opens up post-lockdown, clinical staff can now triage patients based on the urgency of their treatment. Armed with this information, each hospital can review waiting lists against available staff levels. If several staff are unavailable due to illness, quarantine or pulled to other wards, patients can be safely rescheduled or referred to another site within the shared network.

Chris White, Director at Bendigo Cancer Care said: “We are excited about the implementation of CHARM Evolution® across all health services providing cancer care in the Loddon Mallee Region. This product will align the region with best practice chemotherapy prescribing and lead to improved quality and safety for cancer patients in our region.”

Stephen Lynch, Executive General Manager from Citadel Health said: “We have built solid foundations across the country and it’s great to see us making significant progress in Victoria. Our primary focus is to improve patient outcomes and deliver continuity of care across different disciplines and locations. By creating a shared cancer network, a patient can get a higher quality of consistent treatment at any oncology site in the region, all enabled through innovation in digital care across Victoria.”

A shared chemotherapy management platform has been launched in Victoria to improve patient outcomes and continuity of care.