Australia

Cancer care in Australia

According to World Health Organization comparisons, Australian cancer patients generally have better cancer survival rates than those in other countries.¹ In the last 30 years, the death rate for cancer in Australia (number of deaths per 100,000 people) has dropped by more than 24%.² This trend is driven by treatment improvements and new interventions leading to more patients surviving from the most commonly diagnosed cancers, including bowel cancer and prostate cancer in males and breast cancer in females.³

And yet, Australia has one of the highest rates of cancer diagnosis internationally,⁴ with 134,000 new cases estimated to be diagnosed in 2018.2 This number is predicted to rise to 150,000 in 2020,² due to Australia’s increasingly ageing population.⁵ Currently, an estimated 1.1 million (1 in 22) Australians are living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis.⁶ By 2040, it is estimated that 1 in 18 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.⁶

Healthcare in Australia is largely publicly funded, but cancer patients report relatively high out-of-pocket health costs. The financial costs of cancer in Australia are unequally distributed, as some cancer types are more costly to the individual.⁷ Those in rural and remote areas often face greater out-of-pocket costs and can have difficulty accessing healthcare services.⁷

In Australia, cancer has a significant social and economic impact on individuals, families and the broader community. People in lower socioeconomic positions have higher rates of cancer burden, with patients in the lowest socioeconomic group experiencing 1.4 times the cancer burden of those in the highest group.⁷

All.Can Australia

The All.Can initiative began in Australia in late 2017, and was officially launched on World Cancer Day (4 February) 2018. The patient-focused initiative aims to gather insights from the cancer community and sharpen the focus on delivery of care truly of value to patients. The Australian chapter plans to identify improvements to the cancer patient care pathway through the healthcare system.

The overarching goal for All.Can is to help contribute to sustainable resource allocation in cancer care so that funding is directed to interventions which create the most value for patients. This reflects the global reforms in healthcare that are moving away from volume-based care and focusing on improving patient outcomes.

All.Can Australia has now entered a new chapter as All.Can Australia Limited, a newly incorporated entity in Australia.

Our achievements

All.Can Australia has proudly been active since 2017. Our achievements to date include:

• 2017: Established a dedicated Steering Committee to represent the initiative and officially launched in Australia on World Cancer Day.
• 2018: Established two key research projects to gather data from the macro level health system perspective and micro level clinical setting about common inefficiencies.
• 2019: Launched the results of the global All.Can patient survey to key stakeholders and media.
• 2020: Finalised the Australian research report, “An exploration of the cancer pathway in Australia”. This marked the publishing of Australia’s first research project to help establish a baseline understanding of the cancer pathway in Australia.
• 2021: Finalised and launched the All.Can Australia Cancer Care Navigator Analysis Report, which outlined the potential benefits of establishing Australia’s first universal cancer care navigation model to patients and the Australian health system.
• 2022: Became a standalone legal entity, All.Can Australia Limited, and pursued pilot opportunities for the Cancer Care Navigator model.

References

1. AIHW. Cancer in Australia 2017; ix: 1039-3307. Available here: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-in-australia-2017/ [accessed: February 2018]
2. Cancer Council Australia. Facts and Figures. Available here: https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/facts-and-figures.html [accessed: February 2018]
3. AIHW. Cancer mortality trends and projections Available here: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-mortality-trends-and-projections-2014-to-2025 [accessed: February 2018]
4. International Agency for Research on Cancer (World Health Organization). Worldwide Cancer Incidence. Available here: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cs_infog_world_inc.pdf [accessed: February 2018]
5. Australian Cancer Research Foundation. Cancer incidence and mortality in Australia. Available here: https://acrf.com.au/on-cancer/cancer-statistics-australia/ [accessed: February 2018]
6. Cancer Council Australia. Australians living with and beyond cancer in 2040. Available here: https://www.cancerwa.asn.au/resources/2018-01-31-cancer-prevalence-in-2040.pdf [accessed: February 2018]
7. AIHW. Burden of cancer in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011. Available here: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/burden-of-cancer-in-australia-australian-burden-of-disease-study-2011/contents/table-of-content [accessed: February 2018]