The program delivers strategic consultation, multidisciplinary engagement, data and information analysis, and reporting – to identify unwarranted variations in clinical practice and cancer outcomes and the priority activities to address these.

As a strategy of the Victorian Cancer Plan 2020–2024, the VICS Optimal Care Summits program (previously known as the Victorian Tumour Summits) supports implementation of Optimal Care Pathways (OCPs). Evidence, engagement findings, and statewide data are provided for benchmarking against OCP guidelines and between different geographic regions in the state. There are currently 18 tumour-type-specific OCPs.

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Multidisciplinary clinical working groups are formed to guide the planning of each summit, oversee data analysis and presentation, and guide the refinement of recommendations linked to the OCP guidelines. Clinical working groups comprise cancer clinicians based in metropolitan, rural and regional settings.

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The VICS Optimal Care Summits program is an initiative of the Victorian Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) – Victoria’s cancer services improvement network.