One of the first cancer survivorship clinics in NSW is celebrating 10 years of providing dedicated support to patients and their families following a cancer diagnosis.
Established in 2013, the Sydney Survivorship Centre at Concord Hospital gives patients access to evidence-based exercise interventions from diagnosis to treatment and through to survivorship.
The dedicated team helps patients manage treatment related side effects, improve their physical function and wellbeing and help prevent long term or persisting adverse effects of their cancer and treatment.
Health Minister Ryan Park highlighted the need for such an important service and praised the tireless efforts of the staff who work at the clinic.
“Making sure we look after the most vulnerable members of our community is vitally important and this service provides a multi-disciplinary team to give survivors the best possible chance of a positive outcome after their diagnosis,” Minister Park said.
“The team at the Cancer Survivorship Centre do an incredibly important job in helping patients navigate through such a terrifying point in life.”
There are an estimated 750,000 cancer survivors in Australia with an expected three per cent increase this year.
The aim of survivorship programs is to improve the services and care for cancer survivors in Australia through research, education and an understanding of the issues that affect people who have been treated for cancer.
While “survivorship” means different things to different people, most cancer survivors share similar issues around the fear of the cancer returning or the anxiety of follow up visits.
This free clinic helps patients come to terms with those fears and anxieties in a relaxed environment.
About 130 new patients are seen at the clinic each year with long term follow-up provided for about 40 per cent of those patients.
Staff will see patients every three months for the first three years, then six monthly for years four and five.
