Background
The Western Australian (WA) Gynaecological Cancer Service (WAGCS) provides statewide multidisciplinary care. Gynaecological cancer survivors in WA report high levels of unmet supportive care needs. With increasing numbers of survivors, a shift to provide survivorship care from diagnosis, and international guidelines recommending a systematic approach including multidisciplinary teams (MDT) and survivorship care plans the WAGCS established the first statewide gynaecologic cancer survivorship clinic in Australia.
Aim
To provide a snapshot of the activity of a newly established survivorship service.
Methods
The vision of the WAGCS Survivorship clinic is to improve care and quality of life of gynaecological cancer survivors, provide a platform for patients to contribute to knowledge on needs specific to Australian gynaecological cancer survivors, and improve knowledge through collaboration and research. In July 2024 weekly clinics led by a specialist nurse, gynaecological oncologist, physiotherapist, psychologist, dietician, and general practitioner, commenced. A MDT meeting prior to clinic allows for personalised and coordinated patient care. Individual survivorship care plans are developed based on Patient Reported Outcome Measures and Patient Reported Experience Measures (EORTC QLQ-C30, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory- Short Form, Gynaecological Cancer Distress Screening Tool, and Brief Sexual Symptom Checklist for Women). A clinic research registry has been established.
Conclusion
In the clinic’s first 10 weeks, 37 patients attended. This small but representative sample identified clinically significant levels of fear of cancer recurrence in 51% of survivors and high and very high levels of psychological distress in 48% of survivors. Only 24 % of survivors were satisfied with their sexual functioning. The WAGCS survivorship clinic aims to alleviate these symptoms and improve patients’ quality of life. The clinic registry will provide a rich data repository to measure longer term outcomes that will inform future clinical trials of survivorship interventions in this population.