Complex surgery for rare cancers should be consolidated into specialised units to improve survival rates, says the NSW peak cancer control agency.

Data from the Cancer Institute NSW has demonstrated an association between hospitals conducting very small numbers of procedures and poorer rates of survival. Professor David Currow, CEO of the institute, said mortality rates doubled depending on the volume of surgeries performed by the hospital. The data showed that over a four-year period some hospitals across NSW were performing less than one surgical procedure to cure either oesophagus or pancreas cancers per year. International data indicates a risk of higher mortality the fewer procedures a hospital performs. Currow said the...