Discover the latest updates from SMICS in our newsletter

We’ve just published the latest edition of SMICS Connect, highlighting recent projects, key milestones, and ongoing work to improve cancer care across southern Melbourne.

In each edition of our newsletter, our Clinical Directors, Associate Professor Michelle White and Associate Professor Pasquale Fedele, provide an update. Read their latest update here, and don’t forget to click through and read the rest of the newsletter to get all the news and updates from SMICS.

The past two months since our last newsletter have been a busy and rewarding time at SMICS. We’ve launched a new project aimed at improving outcomes for people with disabilities and successfully concluded two projects focused on enhancing supportive care for cancer patients. All of this and more is highlighted in this edition of our newsletter.

Before you dive in, we’d like to draw your attention to two major milestones at SMICS. We are pleased to share the release of the updated the VICS Care of the Older Person with Cancer Toolkit (4th Edition). This resource continues to evolve to support high‑quality, tailored care for older people with cancer. We would like to acknowledge the significant effort of SMICS Senior Project Manager Tracey Bucki and Sian Wright, Project Lead – Cancer Service Improvement at HRICS, in delivering this update. Their work ensures the toolkit reflects current best practice and provides practical, implementation‑ready guidance for clinicians and health services. Well done to Tracey and Sian, and to all those who contributed to the toolkit update.

We were also excited to recently convene our first SMICS Clinical and Data Advisory Group (CDAG) meeting. This group brings together a broad range of multidisciplinary expertise and representation from across our member health services, helping to ensure our work remains aligned with both statewide priorities and local needs. As always, our work at SMICS is underpinned by data. This is what guides us to where the need is greatest and where service improvement can have the most impact. We look forward to reporting on outcomes from this group as it matures.

We hope you enjoy this edition of SMICS Connect. As always, we invite you to get in touch. We are always keen to hear from those working across the cancer sector who have ideas for new projects to support patients, carers, and services across southern Melbourne that SMICS could support. We encourage early and informal conversations and would be pleased to explore opportunities with colleagues from Bayside Health’s Alfred and Peninsula Care Groups, Cabrini Health, and Monash Health.

Kind regards,

Associate Professor Michelle White and Associate Professor Pasquale Fedele Joint Clinical Directors, SMICS