To the Editor: The National Cancer Control Initiative (NCCI) was established in 1997 jointly by the Department of Health and Ageing and The Cancer Council Australia to “provide timely advice, identify appropriate initiatives, and make specific recommendations to the Commonwealth Government and other key groups regarding the prevention, detection, treatment and palliation of cancer for all Australians”. It has been the only independent group dealing with all aspects of cancer nationally, and incorporating government, non-government, consumer and professional input.

On 31 May 2006, it ceased operation due to lack of funding support, and no arrangements have been made to allow continuity between its work and that of a proposed new body, Cancer Australia, which at the time of writing was still not functioning.

The NCCI’s contributions include national surveys of colorectal cancer management and of skin cancer incidence and treatment; clinical trials assessing the management of skin lesions in primary care; the first protocols for pilot programs for bowel cancer screening; national programs to promote the implementation of National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines on psychosocial aspects of cancer and on lung and other cancers; programs to improve decision making in prostate cancer screening; a nationally agreed core clinical dataset for cancers; support for cancer registries to include staging and survival information; new methods to establish evidence-based requirements for radiotherapy services; and support for cancer research, for strengthening clinical trials and for consumers’ activities. Since 2000, the small group of NCCI staff has produced seven national workshops, over 30 published reports, and over 60 peer-reviewed articles. These are available online at <http://www.ncci.org.au/> along with current contact details of NCCI staff, and the final report of the NCCI is at <http://www.ncci.org.au/pdf/Final%20 report/NCCI_final_report.pdf>.

An independent review in 2004 reported that NCCI’s work was of high quality, well researched, insightful, and cost-efficient, and recommended a considerable increase in funding. A major contribution of NCCI was producing, jointly with The Cancer Council Australia and the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, the report Optimising cancer care in Australia. The government’s 2004 election policy on cancer (http://www.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/health-budget2005-hbudget-hfact1.htm) was based partly on this report, and included setting up Cancer Australia, with terms of reference overlapping those of NCCI. The assumption of many policymakers, consumer representatives and cancer experts was that NCCI would become a component of Cancer Australia. This has not happened. Indeed, from 2005, proposals from NCCI for the planned next stages of work on topics including psychosocial aspects of cancer, lung cancer, and primary care in cancer, received no response from the Department of Health and Ageing.

With the closure of NCCI, the Director and Deputy Director are relocating overseas, and the highly productive staff members, specifically praised in the independent review, are moving to other roles. The premature demise of the NCCI, before Cancer Australia has started to function, is short-sighted, inefficient, and wastes the experience, resources and staff that NCCI has developed. This finishes a decade-long unique partnership between the Australian Government and non-government national cancer organisations. Cancer Australia will need to develop anew the expertise to identify and address issues in cancer control in Australia, and to link the government and non-government sectors.