Shared cancer follow-up and survivorship care: early breast cancer

Tools and resources

• Guidance for the management of early breast cancer (Cancer Australia, 2020) 

This resource outlines recommendations and practice points for the management and care of early breast cancer, developed through a meta-guideline process. It includes a section on survivorship and follow-up care. 

• Shared follow-up care for early breast cancer: summary of evidence report (Cancer Australia, 2019) 

Shared follow-up care for early breast cancer is a safe, effective, acceptable, and cost-efficient alternative to specialist led follow-up care after treatment for early breast cancer. Cancer Australia has developed an evidence base to support a shared follow-up care model for early breast cancer. 

• Shared follow-up and survivorship care – information for health professionals (Cancer Australia, 2020) 

This resource supports all members of the shared follow-up and survivorship care team, including the specialist, registrar, cancer nurse, breast care nurse, cancer care coordinator, general practitioner (GP) and primary care nurse. It provides information about delivering best practice follow-up and survivorship care for patients with early breast cancer or DCIS.  

• Roles and responsibilities of the shared follow-up and survivorship care team (Cancer Australia, 2020) 

This resource outlines the roles and responsibilities of the specialist, GP, nurses, and their respective teams, in delivering shared follow-up and survivorship care for patients with early breast cancer and DCIS. 

• Principles of shared follow-up care for early breast cancer (Cancer Australia, 2019) 

This fact sheet outlines the 7 principles of shared follow-up care. 

• Rapid Access Request template (Cancer Australia, 2019) 

This template is for GPs to use when a follow-up raises a clinical issue requiring urgent specialist consultation or advice. It is an integral part of the shared follow-up care model and helps facilitate effective communication between the GP and specialist. 

• Shared care plan for early breast cancer follow-up and survivorship care template (Cancer Australia, 2019) 

This care plan template helps general practitioners, specialist and patient to manage follow-up and survivorship care for early breast cancer and DCIS. It should be developed within the specialist setting at the initial follow-up appointment 3 months after active treatment ends. The template contains all the key elements required for follow-up care including a record of diagnosis and treatment summaries, appointment schedule, follow-up actions required and contact details of all involved. 

• Information for women on shared follow-up and survivorship care for early breast cancer (Cancer Australia, 2020) 

This consumer-focused document explains shared follow-up and survivorship care, including the benefits of shared care and who is involved.  

• Optimal care pathway for women with breast cancer  

This optimal cancer care pathway for women with breast cancer explains the cancer pathway and its distinct components through mapping the patient journey, to promote quality cancer care and patient experiences. 

Online continuing professional development 

• Cancer Australia breast cancer online learning series 

Cancer Australia has developed 6 accredited online courses for general practitioners, practice nurses and other health professionals to support learning and improved practice of evidence-based breast cancer treatment and care.  

‘Follow-up and survivorship care for early breast cancer’ addresses best practice follow-up care for women who have completed active treatment for early breast cancer, including shared follow-up care arrangements. 

Consumer resources

• Fear of cancer recurrence (Breast Cancer Network Australia, 2019) 

This fact sheet provides information on fear of cancer recurrence for people who have been diagnosed with early breast cancer, and their partners, families, friends, colleagues and others who support people with early breast cancer.