Since officially launching on World Cancer Day in 2018, All.Can Australia has been advocating for better cancer navigation, which continues to be an unmet need for those affected by cancer. Professor Christobel Saunders, a member of EU Navigate’s international advisory board, has kindly provided an update on patient navigation in the country, as well as a case study of a breast cancer patient in who found it difficult to navigate her treatment:

Australia’s first national Cancer Plan has recently been launched and we are delighted our efforts now acknowledge the importance of cancer care navigation to enhancing consumer experience and improve delivery of efficient and equitable cancer care. 

All.Can Australia are part of the newly formed national Department of Health and Aged Care Cancer Navigation Working Group, where we will work alongside Cancer Australia and other stakeholders to inform Australia’s first program that will provide pan-cancer support.

All.Can Australia’s involvement is unique in that we include expertise from clinical, industry and consumer perspectives. Additionally, the organisation hopes that insights from its own pan-cancer care navigation model will help to inform the Cancer Plan’s use of technology and data capture to ensure all Australians diagnosed with cancer haveaccess to the navigation they need to help with their cancer journey.

Olivia’s story

Olivia was just 39 when she found a lump in her breast. She was also 28 weeks pregnant with her first child, and living on a rural farm many 100’s of kilometres from the nearest large city. Her General Practitioner ensured she had a prompt referral to the local hospital who diagnosed her cancer, however how to best manage her complex situation quickly became confusing for Olivia and her partner. Fortunately she was put in touch with the regional breast nurse specialist who made sure she was connected with a specialist cancer centre and obstetric unit and plans were made to start chemotherapy, and following delivery of her baby, surgery and further treatment including more drug treatment and radiotherapy.

However Olivia still had difficulty navigating many aspects of her care – she was struggling with travel and other expenses of treatment, and her cancer treatment was at a hospital quite distant from her ante-natal care, and Olivia was concerned the teams were not really in touch with each other. With a previous history of depression, Olivia was experiencing significant mental health issues, but the specialist hospital could only offer her psychological support at their centre which was very far from her home. When Olivia did finally undergo surgery including axillary dissection she had no access to physiotherapy close to home and experienced significant arm lymphoedema which further affected her quality of life and meant she could not return to work on the farm – severely affecting the family income.

How would navigation have helped? Undoubtably Olivia’s medical and nursing care were appropriate, however co-ordinating appointments so she could be seen by multiple specialist on the dame day, with better communication was an unmet need, as was accessing financial and local psychological support. Navigation can address these issues. Access to other supportive care appropriate to the patient and her situation such as local physiotherapy around the time of surgery may have prevented her lymphoedema and its significant life impacts, and are part of a navigation pathway. 

Post written by Christobel Saunders and edited by Richard Delahay