THE Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is making inquiries about the director of a Bendigo specialist skin cancer clinic, which is under urgent review by Safer Care Victoria.
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The Medical Board of Australia took steps to prevent Dr Wesley Miles - the director and consultant radiation oncologist of Quality Cancer Care - from practising medicine on April 30.
The Williamson Street clinic is believed to have closed that month.
More than 30 Quality Cancer Care patients were referred to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Bendigo.
Clinicians at Peter Mac and Bendigo Health raised concerns about the adequacy of diagnoses and treatment provided with the referrals.
Safer Care Victoria has launched an urgent review into Quality Cancer Care, which includes reaching out to up to 2700 past patients and having experts review patient records.
It is not known why the Medical Board of Australia took steps to prevent Dr Miles from practising.
AHPRA today confirmed Dr Miles had provided an undertaking to the Medical Board of Australia not to practise.
"Our inquiries into this matter are continuing," an AHPRA spokesperson said.
The Bendigo Advertiser has been unable to reach Dr Miles for comment.
Three Bendigo GPs and a past patient expressed shock at the review, having all had positive experiences of Quality Cancer Care.
The GPs had some concerns about the effects of the clinic's closure.
Dr Tali Barrett said Quality Cancer Care met a need for care beyond the surgical procedures GPs had at their disposal, but below that which would be prioritised for care at the hospital.
She said the service was "a bit of a godsend" and would be badly missed.
Older patients were among those who benefited most from the service, according to Dr Barrett.
She said GPs in Bendigo often referred into Quality Cancer Care, describing it as "really the only readily accessible place for non-surgical treatment of skin cancers".
Dr Barrett believed the hospital would struggle to fill the gap, and travel to Melbourne was unrealistic.
"From our perspective of seeing our patients use the service, we found it [Quality Cancer Care] to be safe and responsive and effective," she said.
Another GP, Dr Jayant Banerji said Quality Cancer Care helped meet the needs of those who couldn't afford a private practitioner.
He said the superficial radiotherapy services the clinic provided were ideal for patients with lots of little lesions or lesions in a sensitive area, like the face, which were difficult for most GPs to even biopsy.
"I think it is a great resource," he said.
Dr Banerji was concerned about the volume of cases that might be referred the public system's way, given the burden of skin cancer in the community.
With about 12 years of practise in Bendigo to draw upon, Dr Banerji said he'd managed to find a referral pathway for his patients.
He was concerned for doctors with less local experience.
Dr Andy Cope, of Creek Street Medical Practice, believed Dr Miles had provided an excellent service throughout the years.
"He's certainly looked after my patients very well," Dr Cope said.
He said the patients he'd referred through the hospital service had been dealt with extremely well, too.
But the majority of his radiotherapy cases had been referred through to Dr Miles.
"If that's true of all the GPs in Bendigo, that would be quite an undertaking for all of that to be shifted to a hospital domain," Dr Cope said.
A dedicated clinic and telephone line have been established for past Quality Cancer Care patients as Safer Care Victoria conducts its review.
Bendigo Health and Peter Mac are working together to review all patients from the clinic.
"Our staff will ensure these patient get the quality care they need," a Bendigo Health spokesperson said.
Former Quality Cancer Care patient Rick Dungey said Dr Miles treated him for several skin cancers.
Mr Dungey found both Dr Miles and the clinic to be very good and was "rather shocked" to hear of the Safer Care Victoria review.
He planned to call the Bendigo Cancer Centre to find out more about his options, as someone who had a personal and family history of skin cancer and required regular checkups.
Safer Care Victoria and Bendigo Health have encouraged all concerned Quality Cancer Care patients to call the Bendigo Cancer Centre on (03) 5454 6357.
The telephone line is staffed from 9am - 5pm on weekdays.
Emma D'Agostino
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
