The primary care role for people with cancer

Abstract

The announcement in January 2009 of funding of $5.6 million for cancer research and a Primary Care Cooperative Cancer Clinical Trials Group to focus on prevention, detection and care of people with cancer comes after the call by a number of commentators for an expanded role for primary health care in the care of people with cancer. Some recent studies have shown that transfer of care from hospitals and specialists to general practitioners is safe and effective. However recent Australian research on service design to support cancer care in primary health care is limited, with most research focussing on the differences between care in urban and rural areas. The forthcoming evaluation of the Cancer Service Networks National Demonstration Program (CanNET) will fill a much needed gap in our research knowledge.