Cancer care policy is often developed in siloed tumour streams, retrofitted in response to announcements from politicians and unsustainably funded, or established to address unmet needs across a short time period. While this is not always the case, these factors make it challenging for policy makers to take a big picture view, resulting in many people affected by cancer not being supported to receive optimal cancer care.
Time, perspective, and resources are not always adequately afforded to cancer care policy. In response to this, Cancer Council has commenced development of a National Cancer Care Policy (NCCP). This will become the companion to our National Cancer Prevention Policy, elevate cancer care policy, and provide an evidence-based public-facing platform for our advocacy to improve optimal cancer care and cancer outcomes for all Australians, affected by all cancers.
The cost of cancer is the first chapter of the NCCP under development and was selected due to the increasing impacts of financial toxicity in cancer. The financial toxicity definition and other development work from COSA’s Financial Toxicity Working Group is central to the policy development.
Integral to the process of developing this chapter will be Issues Based Forums which will seek input from experts across Australia, including COSA members. These will assist in defining the policy and seek policy solutions to decrease the impact of direct and indirect costs of cancer and address the changing financial circumstances of people affected by cancer.
This presentation will share the learnings from the development of the NCPP and discuss the Cost of Cancer chapter as the leading example.