Supportive care in cancer refers to the following five domains: the physical domain, which includes a wide range of physical symptoms that may be acute, relatively short lived or ongoing, requiring continuing interventions or rehabilitation the psychological domain, which includes a range of issues related to the patient’s mental health wellbeing and personal relationships the…

People who identify as sexually or gender diverse may have unique needs following a cancer diagnosis. Sexually or gender diverse identities include (but are not limited to) people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, collectively ‘LGBT’. There is no universally agreed upon initialism to describe this community, with other terms such as queer/questioning…

A diagnosis of cancer may present additional challenges to people who have pre-existing chronic mental health or psychiatric concerns, resulting in exacerbation of their mental health symptoms. This may include heightened anxiety, worsening depression or thoughts of self-harm. As poor adjustment and coping can affect treatment decisions, people who are known to have a mental…

Professor John Seymour (Chair), Director, Department of Haematology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital Dr Phillip Campbell, Head of Haematology, Barwon Health Dr Duncan Carradice, Haematologist, Western Health Dr Geoff Chong, Medical Oncologist, Austin Health, Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre Ms Tracey Dryden, National Lymphoma Coordinator, Leukaemia Foundation Ms Jane Farrow, Senior…

The multidisciplinary team may include the following members: Aboriginal health practitioner, Indigenous liaison officer or remote general practitioner care coordinator (as determined by multidisciplinary team members)* exercise physiologist fertility specialist haematologist/medical oncologist* nurse (with appropriate expertise)* pathologist* radiation oncologist* radiologist/imaging specialists* clinical trials coordinator dietitian exercise physiologist general practitioner nuclear medicine physician occupational therapist palliative…

The treatment team should support the patient to participate in research and clinical trials where available and appropriate. For more information visit the Cancer Australia website.

Planning and delivering appropriate cancer care for older people can present a number of challenges. This could also be true for frail people or those experiencing comorbidities. Effective communication between oncology and geriatrics departments will help facilitate best practice care, which takes into account physiological age, complex comorbidities, risk of adverse events and drug interactions,…

The transition from active treatment to post-treatment care is critical to long-term health. In some cases, people will need ongoing, hospital-based care, and in other cases a shared follow-up care arrangement with their general practitioner may be appropriate. This will vary depending on the type and stage of cancer and needs to be planned. Shared…

Early referral to palliative care can improve the quality of life for people with cancer and in some cases may be associated with survival benefits (Haines 2011; Temel et al. 2010; Zimmermann et al. 2014). The treatment team should emphasise the value of palliative care in improving symptom management and quality of life to patients…