Hypofractionated radiotherapy for early stage breast cancer

The Cancer Institute NSW is leading implementation of the LBVC Breast Cancer Hypofractionation Initiative.

This initiative focuses on increasing access to hypofractionated radiotherapy for women with early-stage breast cancer at radiation oncology treatment centres across NSW.

Purpose of the initiative

Hypofractionated radiotherapy is recommended as the standard of care for most women with early-stage breast cancer. However, the proportion of women receiving hypofractionation varies across NSW treatment centres and local health districts.

Increasing hypofractionation rates has the potential to improve value in the key LBVC domains:

health outcomes – more women can receive best-practice care
the experience of patients – women need less visits to the radiotherapy centre reducing the impact on their day-to-day lives
the experience of healthcare providers – clinicians can use their time more efficiently and better support patients who need radiotherapy
effective and efficient care – radiotherapy centres may be able to treat more people with existing resources.

Approach to the initiative

The Institute is supporting local health districts and specialty health networks to increase rates of hypofractionation by:

reporting rates of hypofractionation across NSW radiation oncology treatments centres and working to understand variation in the uptake of hypofractionation
partnering with local health districts to co-design tools to support greater uptake of hypofractionation.
understanding the barriers and enablers to the uptake of hypofractionation for women with early-stage breast cancer, and sharing these learnings across NSW
ensuring the effective and efficient use of resources by improving access to hypofractionation across NSW.