Professor Damien Bolton is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has significant experience in corporate and clinical governance. Since being appointed as Head of Department for Urology at Austin Health in 2000 he has acted a member of numerous committees including the Surgical Audit Review Committee, and as Chair of the New Surgical Technology committee. Amongst other roles he has also been a member of the New Curriculum Sub Committee of the University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and a member and later Chairperson of the Cancer Council Victoria Genito-Urinary Oncology Group, and the Australian Kidney Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee. In 2016 and 2020 he acted as co-convenor of the Victorian Government Department of Health Prostate Cancer Tumour Summits.
He currently also serves as a director of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, and the Urological Society if Australia and New Zealand. He has been Honorary Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Societé Internationale d’Urologie based in Montreal Canada, with continuous roles since 2016. Through these engagements, and via local activities, he has a strong commitment to equitable outcomes in healthcare for all people with genitourinary illness.
Robot-Assisted Surgery Advocacy
Ged Kearney, Federal Assistant Minister for Health
Georgie Crozier, Victorian Shadow Health Minister
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Justification for Increased Robot Access
A presentation detailing the inadequate access of public hospital patients to robot assisted surgery. Click here to access a document of key points, or the button below for the full powerpoint presentation.
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Shaun Carney
An opinion piece, ‘Robot Narrative’, referencing my work, aiming to reshape the narrative around providing equal access for public patients to the newly developed technology currently only available for private patients.
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Tim Read
A transcript of Tim Read’s adjournment speech seeking to provide two surgical robots for the public hospital system, specifically at the Olivia Newton John Centre in the Austin Hospital, and a likely need in the Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Centre.
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Patient Letter
A letter from a recently recovered patient, inquiring as to why their access to robotic surgery was not equivalent to their private hospital counterpart, specifically regarding the nature of recovery time and added difficulty of the traditional method.