The National Melanoma Working Group (NMWG), with support from Skin Cancer New Zealand, is reviewing the revised New Zealand Melanoma Clinical Guidelines. The review had a particular focus on neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment which is now funded in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We commended them on producing well-researched, referenced, and practical melanoma guidelines which will hopefully improve the care provided for melanoma in Aotearoa New Zealand. The inclusion of Key Performance Indicators for some stages will allow progress towards these targets to be measured.
We recommended the Guidelines use Aotearoa New Zealand rather than just New Zealand. Te reo Māori is an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our Māori population has poorer melanoma health outcomes, and we must work to reverse this inequity. Māori often feel disenfranchised by our healthcare system and are less likely to seek help at earlier stages. We also recommended adding “data sovereignty” as an important issue for Māori considering the use of artificial intelligence.
The revised draft Guidelines were reviewed in detail by Sarah Rennie, Aotearoa New Zealand Surgical Advisor, who made a range of other suggestions as set out in our submission.
Read submission (PDF 202.88KB).