Support for patients, families, and carers
Improving experiences and outcomes for Victorians affected by childhood cancer is at the heart of everything we do.
As Victoria’s Paediatric Integrated Cancer Service (PICS), we support patients, their parents and other carers, and those delivering their care, from the moment of diagnosis to treatment and the years that follow.
How we can help
We have a suite of resources to provide reliable information, helpful suggestions, and practical advice for the children and adolescents, families, and carers of young people affected by childhood cancer.
These resources have been developed with input from patients, their families and carers, and the health professionals that treat them. They are available in a variety of formats, such as factsheets, videos, and handbooks.
We are always working on new and improved resources to stay up to date with best practices, and the evolving needs of patients and families. We welcome any feedback and suggestions.
Our Regional Outreach and Shared Care Program (ROSCP) supports care as close to home as possible, when it is safe and appropriate to do so. It connects Victoria’s primary paediatric treatment centres in Melbourne with 9 regional centres, coordinating shared care clinics to reduce the burden on families across the state.
The PICS Long Term Follow-up Program (LTFP) provides tailored care to help children and adolescent survivors of cancer to manage the potential long-term impacts of their cancer diagnosis and treatment. It also supports their transition to adult community or hospital services.
The Victorian Childhood Cancer Outcomes Registry (VCCOR) will support research into the long-term effects of cancer treatment, and inform how late effects are identified and managed – and potentially reduced – to improve outcomes for future childhood cancer survivors.
Supporting the health professionals and services that provide care for children and adolescents with cancer is essential to improving experiences and outcomes for patients and their families.
We provide and facilitate education opportunities for clinical and allied health professionals that support patients and families, and we help health services to develop, connect, and drive best practice paediatric cancer care across Victoria.
Our service improvement team delivers a wide range of evidence-based projects to bring family-centred changes and to improve experiences and outcomes across the childhood cancer care journey.
Projects typically look at improving one or more of:
- patient and family experiences of cancer treatment
- improving access to information and support both during and after treatment
- improving access to equitable cancer care and services
- reducing the burdens on all patients and families.
Learn about our paediatric cancer care service improvement projects.
We achieve our best when we bring people together.
We collaborate with many stakeholders across Victoria and beyond, such as consumers – patients, their families, and other caregivers as either current or past users of health services – and the health professionals and health services involved in the delivery of paediatric cancer care.
Working with consumers and clinicians helps us to design improvements and solutions than better meet the needs of those affected by childhood cancer.
From psychological and financial support to more information on looking after yourself years after recieving treatment, other organisations provide further services, resources, and other information that may be helpful for Victorians affected by childhood cancer.
Our supports across the treatment phases
Help us improve paediatric cancer care
Whether you want to use your first-hand knowledge of accessing cancer care to help us develop new and improved resources, or use your lived experiences to contribute to a project improving services, find out how you can work with us to help improve outcomes for those affected by childhood cancer.
