The Rudd Government and Tasmanian Government will invest $47.67 million to improve cancer care across the island.
Tasmanians have the second-highest incidence of cancer in Australia and with some cancers, patients from rural areas are up to three times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis than their urban counterparts.
The Rudd Government will provide $18.7 million and link the Southern Area Health Service (Hobart), the Northern Area Health Service (Launceston), the North Western Area Health Service (Burnie), the Menzies Research Institute, the Cancer Council Tasmania and other stakeholders.
The Tasmanian Government will provide almost $24 million towards this project, with $3.95 million in other contributions.
Investments in regional cancer centres such as this, networked to the enhanced cancer services across Hobart, Launceston and Burnie will enable all Tasmanians to have better access to essential cancer services closer to home and to cope better with cancer treatment.
This delivers on the State Government's election commitment of $10 million for North West cancer services.
The Commonwealth funding will include almost $10.4 million for Hobart, including:
* $4 million for the construction of a third radiation oncology bunker at Royal Hobart Hospital to underpin future infrastructure and equipment needs
* $5.5 million for the relocation of the Dwyer Rehabilitation Ward to the repatriation facility site to enable the redevelopment of the Outpatient Cancer Care Centre
* $0.5 million for the development of the patient support services centre
* $0.33 million for tissue bank infrastructure at the Menzies Research Institute.
As part of the project, $3.53 million will be invested by the Commonwealth in cancer infrastructure enhancements at Launceston General Hospital, including:
* $1.0 million for the expansion of the medical oncology unit
* $1.55 million for a patient support centre
* $0.73 million for an education and research centre
* $0.25 million for palliative care upgrade.
The Commonwealth funding also includes $4.78 million towards a new cancer care centre at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie and a contribution of $1 million towards a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.
The funding for the Tasmanian Cancer Care project will provide an additional 18 chemotherapy treatment chairs - 12 chairs at Burnie and six at Launceston. Once fully operational, these new facilities will provide an estimated extra 9,000 chemotherapy treatments per year.
The expanded radiotherapy and medical oncology infrastructure and associated services and care will be supported by improved state-wide information and communications technology and clinical cancer patient record systems.
Enhanced education and research facilities will facilitate better collaboration between health services and link with the University of Tasmania and the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust. This will help ensure that advances in treatment approaches can be quickly adopted in clinical settings and incorporated into medical and health student training.
Cancer affects thousands of Australian families - about 100,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually with about 40,000 people dying each year from various forms of this disease.
The Tasmania Regional Cancer Centre forms part of the Rudd Government's $560 million commitment to establish centres so that Australians can get care closer to home and their community.
The Rudd Government has committed more than $2.3 billion in cancer infrastructure, medicines, screening and research.
Under the National Health and Hospitals Network, the Government will provide
60 per cent of the funding for capital upgrades for public hospitals.
The Australian Government's plan will see health services funded nationally and run locally to deliver better health for local communities.