Background
With cancer incidence expected to rise significantly over the next 25 years, optimal survivorship care is now more important than ever to meet the ongoing needs of cancer survivors. Considerable variation in the provision of survivorship care exists across the health system in Australia and there are a number of reported barriers to the provision of optimal care including workforce issues and a lack of health professional reimbursement (Halpern et al). The present study aims to build on this evidence by exploring the provision of optimal survivorship care in NSW and the potential health system barriers. Understanding the barriers to optimal survivorship care in NSW can help inform health system improvements and policy recommendations to government.
Aim
This research aims to understand the extent of optimal survivorship care received by cancer survivors in NSW as well as the reported barriers to optimal care by the cancer community.
Methods
The study will utilise a quantitative research methodology consisting of an online written survey. NSW adults with a current or past cancer diagnosis will be invited to participate in the survey via the Cancer Council NSW advocacy community ‘CanAct’ and Cancer Council NSW social media channels. Participants will be asked whether they received optimal survivorship care according to best practice guidelines at any point in their cancer journey. Demographic information will also be captured including ethnicity, level of education and employment status.
Conclusion
The proposed research aims to build on the existing literature by exploring the provision of optimal survivorship care and health system barriers from a NSW perspective. Findings from this work can help identify policy solutions to improve survivorship care across the state that address the individual needs of cancer survivors.