New Zealand Cancer Registry Clinical Advisory Group Terms of Reference
Background
1. The New Zealand Cancer Registry (NZCR) is a population-based register of all primary malignant tumors diagnosed in New Zealand, excluding squamous and basal cell skin cancers.
2. Statutory responsibility for the NZCR lies with the Director-General of Health.
3. In July 2010 a review of the NZCR contracted by Cancer Control New Zealand (CCNZ) produced seventeen recommendations. Recommendations two and three were;
- that a clinical advisory group be established to support and advise NZCR and NZCR governance Board.
- that the clinical advisory group include, but not necessarily be limited to, representatives active in the disciplines of Pathology, Epidemiology, Oncology and Haematology.
Role
4. The role of the NZCR Clinical Advisory Group will be to provide direct expert clinical advice to NZCR staff.
This would include:
a. Provision of expert advice and interpretation on data collection and recommend possible solutions.
b. Provide advice on a process for dealing with complex cases to achieve consensus.
c. Identification of present and future issues within NZCR and providing solution.
d. Provision of advice on future proofing, flexibility, adaptation of new techniques, and requirements for up-skilling on population based data.
e. Provision of advice on what constitutes meaningful output, including recommending new and improved categories of data collection.
f. Proactive maintenance of the data collection and reporting standards in the wider cancer control community.
g. Provision of strategic advice to the NZCR governance Board in relation to points a – f above.
Membership
5. The clinical advisory group will consist of the following:
i. A Pathologist,
ii. An Epidemiologist ,
iii. A Medical Oncologist
iv. A Radiation Oncologist
v. A Haematologist
vi. A Surgical Oncologist
6. Nominees will be determined and approved by NZCR Board and will be accountable to the NZCR Board.
7. Term: Members are initially appointed for a three year term.
Meeting Arrangements
8. Meeting arrangements to be agreed by the Advisory Group and approved by the General Manager of CCNZ. In general, business will be conducted by email, teleconference and/or video conference. Members will meet face-to-face as appropriate.
9. CCNZ will reimburse Member's travel costs and pay a meeting fee at the rate as per State Services protocol
10. NZCR will provide secretarial support for meetings and for all business that needs to be conducted between meetings.
Quorum
11. The quorum for the Clinical Advisory Group is four members.
Confidentiality
12. The deliberations of the Advisory Group are to be considered confidential; however the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982 apply to the business of the Board.
All decisions and all work of the Advisory Group needs to comply with the Cancer Registry Act and legislation related to the privacy of health information, in particular the Official Information Act 1982, the Privacy Act 1993 and the Health Information Privacy Code 1994.
Any statistics released by the Cancer Registry Board must comply with the Statistics Act 1975, which sets out the framework for New Zealand’s Official Statistics System.
The provisions of the Privacy Act 1993 shall apply to all data held by the Registry that has not been anonymized. Any discussion by the Advisory Group and/or the Board on data that could identify an individual or specific group would be protected from disclosure by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1993.
