Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) today launched their Ontario Cancer Plan, the first of its kind in Canada, a comprehensive cancer control plan to address the gaps in cancer care delivery across the province, including Northwestern Ontario.

This Ontario Cancer Plan was developed and designed through a partnership between the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and Cancer Care Ontario to provide viable solutions and directions for the delivery of cancer services across Ontario. In 2003, CCO identified that there were fundamental areas in the continuum of cancer care that needed greater strategic direction and improvement, and initiated a plan that would impact cancer care across every region.

The planning was initiated last November, when CCO created an ‘Ontario Cancer Plan’ template, and contacted all of the regional cancer care facilities across Ontario. Each of the regional cancer centres then identified all of the challenges and needs for their regions, through stakeholder consultations, compiling existing data, and defining the action steps necessary to providing a comprehensive plan to the province.

Through a vast number of stakeholder consultations, research, and refined data, the Ontario Cancer Plan is an extensive and in-depth ten-year plan to address the gaps in cancer service delivery. The focus over the next three years will be on restructuring and implementation of each region’s recommendations for improvements with the essential messaging from CCO to do more, do differently, and do the right things.

“Targeting our activities now will help us meet the current and future challenges that affect cancer care in Ontario,” said Dr. Terrence Sullivan, President and CEO of Cancer Care Ontario. “We know patients have concerns about the quality and expediency of care, and we have evidence, verified during the development of the Plan, that the delivery of cancer services needs to be transformed to meet the current and future demand for cancer care in Ontario.”

The plan highlights a number of initiatives, including the improving wait times, enhancing screening, prevention and early detection techniques and initiatives, improving measurement and reporting, implementing rapid access strategies, enhancing quality and accountability, capital development, and advancing the coordination of cancer research efforts in Ontario.

These identified priorities are expected to produce results with improved confidence in the cancer system, easily navigable systems, accessible services regardless of geography, improved patient satisfaction, more screening and early detection of cancer, accelerated introduction of new and effective treatments, and provincial guidelines and standards addressing quality, infrastructure, innovation and decision-making.

In an area like Northwestern Ontario, the overarching challenges of awareness, education, access and geography are the main reasons for the excitement behind the Regional Cancer Plan - Northwest.

“We have close to 300,000 residents in Northwestern Ontario over a vast area, which translates into 2% of Ontario’s population on more than half of its land mass,” commented Michael Power, Vice President of Regional Cancer Services. “One third of our population is Aboriginal, with limited access to full service cancer care. Additionally, in those communities, there exists a cultural barrier of language, awareness and education, so our challenge is threefold. With the exhaustive investigations of our Regional Cancer Plan task force, we are confident that challenges like these are well on their way to becoming obsolete.”

The Regional Cancer Plan in Northwestern Ontario has identified a number of strategic initiatives to specifically address the region’s challenges. Although some of the survival rates and wait times are highly and favourably comparable to other areas of Ontario, there are identified gaps in service across the region. The regional plan recommends an integrated cancer prevention program, expanding cancer screening and assessment services, improving access to diagnostic services, improving access for Aboriginal, northern, rural and remote populations through a dedicated Aboriginal Cancer Control Unit in Northwestern Ontario, and recruiting and retaining medical specialists.

“These initiatives are paramount to the delivery of patient care in Northwestern Ontario,” said Dr. Dimitri Vergidis, Chief of Oncology at Regional Cancer Care. “Promoting education, awareness, healthy lifestyles and screening will curtail the volume of cancer patients in our region, coming to us with later stages of cancer. These are absolutely necessary to continue to provide the level of care that our patients should expect from us.”

Although the Ontario Cancer Plan is a work in progress, the data used has allowed for a more precise planning process, and to target investments to achieve the maximum benefits for cancer patients in both Northwestern Ontario and across the province.

For more information, see the Ontario Cancer Plan online.

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