A/Prof Collins and A/Prof Hayes notified South West Healthcare in late 2025 of their intention to resign from South West Healthcare in 2027. We have been working closely with all the Medical Oncologists, including A/Prof Hayes and Collins, on the transition plan and developing the ongoing model of care. We are disappointed to see the departure of both A/Prof Hayes and A/Prof Collins who have been pivotal in cancer services for the South West Region. We are also greatly disappointed to hear through media reports that they feel disengaged and disrespected, as this was never the intention. We appreciate all their efforts and have been working with them collaboratively to develop future models.
Our focus remains on maintaining and improving care for the community, patients and their families. South West Healthcare works collaboratively with all agencies in the region to support a mix of public and private services which enables consumer choice. South West Healthcare highly regards all our senior specialists across all medical specialties and support a mixed model of Staff Specialist and VMO contracts. We work closely with each senior doctor to ensure South West Healthcare’s clinical services and community needs are met whilst finding a fit for them that is sympathetic to their availability, work capacity and preference where possible. Regardless of the specialty, South West Healthcare works hard to offer contracts that are fair, reasonable and attractive and within the parameters of a public health service. This enables the attraction, recruitment and retention of senior specialists and sub-specialists to ensure we can provide comprehensive medical care for the South West community. Individual contracts remain confidential however we always aim to work through any issues or gaps once we become aware of these, and resolve them if at all possible.
We have worked hard to ensure a seamless transition and ongoing care from Oncologists will be maintained. The current team of Oncologists have been closely involved with the recruitment process for new Oncologists, where we have offered either VMO or Staff Specialist contracts. We are very happy to have recruited a new Oncologist, Dr Daniel Stout, who has commenced with us in August, with another Oncologist to commence in early 2027. Dr Stout has experience working at Peter McCallum Cancer Centre and extensive regional experience across Victoria and Tasmania. Both Oncologists have a wide range of tumour stream interests that will be greatly beneficial to the community.
We have just opened the SWH Medical Oncology Specialist Outpatient Clinic and are currently welcoming referrals. We continue to provide a 24/7 inpatient and outpatient cancer services, and to expand our regional oncology service to ensure we can meet the future needs of the community. We believe the Oncologists we have recruited are of high-quality, but also recognise the breadth and depth that A/Prof Hayes and A/Prof Collins provide our community, and that they will be hard to replace.
To assist and lead our transition, A/Prof Hayes has recently taken on a consultancy role with SWH to develop the future model of care for cancer services and will be a huge asset for SWH and the community to ensure they receiving ongoing high quality cancer care.
Clinical Trials has seen an incredible growth over the past few years, and this is due to the commitment of many of our senior specialists, but especially A/Prof Hayes and A/Prof Collins for their significant contributions. Our aim is to continue this into the future and safeguard the legacy of the work that has occurred in the last 15 years.
South West Healthcare is confident that we are able to continue offering a comprehensive regional oncology service, to meet community need. In addition to our Specialist Medical Oncologists and Haematologists, South West Healthcare employs junior doctors, specialist nursing staff, and support services such as the McGrath Cancer Care Nurses, Prostate Care Nurse and bra and prosthesis service with specially trained staff. SWH also runs an on-site Oncology pharmacy service and employs dedicated Aboriginal Liaison Officers to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members through their cancer journey and to encourage early screening and detection. In order to provide full holistic care, cancer patients also have access to free public rehabilitation, oncology exercise care, allied health support, mental health and wellbeing support and palliative care. In future years we are aiming to expand within our resources to provide more services across the region.
A/Prof Collins and A/Prof Hayes have been an incredibly valuable part of this wider community and cancer team for many years. We thank them for their contribution. It is important to note that cancer care in the South West is made up of hundreds of staff, across a number of organisations and GP practices, working hard every day to provide holistic care to patients throughout the entire length of their journey. We believe we have worked closely and collaboratively with all parties over the last 10 years to put in place a specialised and well-resourced comprehensive cancer services model which we will endeavour to continue expanding.