Survivorship CoP

Hello all! Apologies for missing the inaugural meeting, I ended up on unplanned leave that day but have just finished watching the recording and getting up to speed before next week's meeting

Your role and area of practice
My name is Mel and I am the Nurse Consultant for the Youth Cancer Service SA/NT. I am based at the Royal Adelaide Hospital but work in a statewide role providing developmentally-informed cancer nursing and supportive care to young people with cancer aged 15-25 years. With over 90% of young people living beyond 5 years post treatment, preparing my patients for survivorship and for eventual independence in their care and self-management is always front of mind

• What is your current survivorship model of care
Currently our service only provides up to 1 year of support post-treatment and for some years now I have been reviewing our patients at 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months post completion of cancer therapy. However, we are currently in the process of setting up a new transition (paeds to adult) and early survivorship service which is very exciting!!

• One challenge or opportunity you’re currently seeing in survivorship care
Trying to empower and encourage young people to engage with their long term health care when they don't yet have the capacity to think about long term consequences! Engagement and attendance can be tricky when a young person has recovered from acute effects and feels well currently.

Your role and area of practice:
Hello everyone, my name is Faye, and I am one of the Helpline Nurse Navigator and Education Project Clinical Lead at Head and Neck Cancer Australia (HANCA). My area of practice focuses on supporting people affected by head and neck cancer across the continuum of care through patient navigation, education, psychosocial support, and survivorship.

What is your current survivorship model of care:
Our current survivorship model of care is integrated largely on our navigation service. Through the helpline, we provide education, emotional support, guidance on symptom management, connection to appropriate services, and assistance navigating often complex healthcare systems. We also collaborate with clinicians, healthcare organisations, and community supports to improve awareness and continuity of care. Many patients report feeling “lost” once treatment ends, particularly when dealing with long-term physical, emotional, nutritional, speech, swallowing, dental, and psychosocial impacts of head and neck cancer.

One challenge or opportunity you’re currently seeing in survivorship care:
One key challenge we are currently seeing is the gap in coordinated survivorship care for head and neck cancer patients. Many survivors experience ongoing and complex needs, yet there is often limited structured follow-up, inconsistent access to allied health and psychosocial supports, and a lack of survivorship-specific education and care planning. However, this also presents a significant opportunity particularly to strengthen multidisciplinary survivorship pathways, improve patient education and self-management support, and develop more accessible models of care through navigation, telehealth, peer support, and collaboration between tertiary services and community-based care.