Radiotherapy activity and collection participation
Changes in activity reported over the 4 years of the collection has been party influenced by:
- improved participation (particularly by the private sector), and
- improvement in the number of reported courses that include waiting times data (particularly in the private sector).
Facility participation in the collection
79 facilities provided megavoltage external beam radiotherapy in Australia in 2016–17, 44 public-sector sites and 35 private-sector sites.
A number of new facilities (or sites) were opened in several jurisdictions (7 more sites in 2016–17 compared with 2013–14).
Table 1 shows how participation has improved over the 4 years of collection. Interactive 2 displays radiotherapy sites by state and sector and participation status for all 4 years of the collection.
Table 1: Participating facilities
|
|
2013–14 |
2014–15 |
2015–16 |
2016–17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of public radiotherapy sites participating in the data collection |
37(a) |
40(a) |
44 |
44 |
|
Number of private radiotherapy sites participating in the data collection |
16(a) |
26 |
33 |
35 |
|
Per cent of radiotherapy sites in Australia participating in the collection |
73% |
89% |
100%(b) |
100% |
(a) In 2013–14 36 public and 5 private facilities provided waiting times data. In 2014–15 37 public facilities provided waiting times data.
(b) Effectively 100%—one public site that began operating 11 days before the end of 2015–16 did not provide data.
Waiting times data availability
Not all providers were able to supply waiting times data for every course of radiotherapy reported. The provision of waiting times data has improved over time. See Table 2.
Table 2: Radiotherapy courses with waiting times data
|
|
2013–14 |
2014–15 |
2015–16 |
2016–17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total number of courses reported |
47,657 |
56,376 |
60,580 |
63,531 |
|
Per cent of courses reported that included waiting times data |
81% |
93% |
97% |
100%(a) |
(a) Approximately 100%, 0.4% of records (250 records) missing waiting times data.
- This site was known as Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (a public provider) until November 2013. In this report, this site is reported as a private provider, but in the 2013–14 report (AIHW 2015), it was treated as a public provider.
- In August 2015, this site began a partnership with Genesis CancerCare St Vincent’s Clinic (a private provider). In this report, this site is reported as part of Genesis CancerCare St Vincent’s Clinic, but in the 2013–14 and 2014–15 reports (AIHW 2015, 2016), it was reported as St Vincent’s Hospital (public provider).
- This site participated as Radiation Oncology Centres, Cairns (private) in 2013–14 and 2014–15, and as Cairns Base Hospital (public) in 2015–16.
- This site participated as Radiation Oncology Centres, Gold Coast (private) in 2013–14 and 2014–1,5 and as Gold Coast University Hospital (public) in 2015–16.
- This site participated as part of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2013–14.
- Known as Radiation Oncology Queensland (ROQ) in 2013–14.
- Known as Oceania, Maroochydore in 2013–14.
- This site opened 11 days before the end of the reporting period for this data collection, providing fewer than 20 courses of radiotherapy in that time, so data have not been submitted to the collection for 2015–16.
- The data for this site were reported as part of the data for the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2013–14 and 2014–15.
Notes:
- See Sector in Glossary for an explanation of public or private status..
- Blank cells indicate years in which that site either did not operate or did not provide data to the collection.
- Facilities (or sites) are the location of treatment, i.e. location of linear accelerators.