Background: The Victorian Statewide Collaboration to Improve Cancer Survivorship Care project (2022-24) aimed to establish a strategic collaboration between the Victorian Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) and the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (ACSC). A key collaboration objective was to co-design and pilot statewide survivorship improvement initiatives over 12 weeks within existing resources.
Method: Improvement initiatives were adult focused and not appropriate for the paediatric context. To ensure work that was relevant to childhood cancer survivors and their families the Paediatric Integrated Cancer Service (PICS) engaged seven healthcare professionals (HCPs) across Monash Children’s Hospital and The Royal Children’s Hospital (including allied health, nursing and clinicians), three parents and multiple children’s cancer advocacy groups to identify survivorship care gaps addressable within the scope of the project. Face to face, online and telephone discussions identified knowledge and information gaps regarding what to expect at the end of treatment, and challenges accessing community supports during this time. Stakeholders identified the need for new written resources.
Results: Two paediatric focused resources were co-designed with healthcare professionals and parents: 1) After Cancer Care: What to Expect, and 2) Community Support After Childhood Cancer linking directly to available supports and services. HCP evaluation surveys demonstrated both resources were considered high quality, acceptable and improved the provision of survivorship care and support. Parents described the resources as ‘friendly’ and ‘easy to navigate.’
Conclusion: Effective collaboration harnessing PICS engagement networks and ACSC project coordination, resulted in stakeholder-led initiatives tailored to the specific needs of the paediatric cohort, while remaining aligned with overall project objectives. The PICS and partner health services continue to implement the resources within a paediatric survivorship model of care, with plans for ongoing stakeholder review and evaluation.