The RBCO cycle
The Reporting for Better Cancer Outcomes (RBCO) program is implemented using the RBCO cycle.
This involves a series of steps made in collaboration with key organisations and individuals across the NSW cancer health system.
Reviewing cancer control data
Throughout the year RBCO develops measures and quality indicators on the different areas of cancer control:
- Data for these measures and indicators are collected from multiple sources, before being linked and analysed.
- The findings are then used to identify variations in cancer control between geographical areas and population groups.
Input from clinicians is essential to ensure the information resulting from this process is relevant and meaningful to those involved in the cancer health system. For this reason, time-limited Clinical Advisory Groups are convened throughout the RBCO cycle.
These groups advise on the way data are analysed, interpreted and presented, providing greater understanding of clinical variation and potential areas for quality improvement.
Engaging with the cancer health system
Since the program began in 2011, the number of organisations involved with RBCO has increased to include:
- 15 local health districts (LHDs)
- one speciality health network
- 10 primary health networks (PHNs)
- private and co-located hospitals
- private radiotherapy centres.RBCO produces individual reports for each of these organisations. These allow each organisation to see how well they are performing against the indicators, and how they compare to other similar organisations.
There are also regular operational meetings, and an annual review and quality improvement forum with each LHD, PHN and selected private hospitals.
In addition, RBCO supports these organisations with improvement initiatives identified during the review process.
