South Australian Cancer Plan

Can­cer affects an esti­mat­ed one-third of the Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion dur­ing their life­time, includ­ing fam­i­lies, car­ers and sup­port­ers of peo­ple diag­nosed with can­cer. In 2019 over 11,000 South Aus­tralians were diag­nosed with can­cer (Source: Can­cer Coun­cil SA) and across Aus­tralia it is a major cause of ill­ness respon­si­ble for 18% of the bur­den of ill health (Source: Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Health and Welfare).

The SA Gov­ern­ment has com­mit­ted to devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing a new five-year SA Can­cer Plan.

The Plan aims to improve can­cer out­comes for all South Aus­tralians through a coor­di­nat­ed, strate­gic direc­tion that iden­ti­fies future oppor­tu­ni­ties to reduce the inci­dence of can­cer in the pop­u­la­tion, improve the can­cer expe­ri­ence for peo­ple diag­nosed with can­cer and their families/​carers, and to improve qual­i­ty of life and improve long-term post-diag­no­sis survival.

The Plan will pro­vide clear guid­ance to SA Health and part­ners on the future direc­tions and pri­or­i­ties for can­cer care, and will be used to inform future ser­vice plan­ning, mod­els of care and sys­tem wide decisions.

The Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing is lead­ing devel­op­ment of the Plan in part­ner­ship with the Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work (SCCN). Dr Michael Osborn, Clin­i­cal Lead of the Can­cer SCN, along with sev­er­al mem­bers of the Can­cer SCN Steer­ing Com­mit­tee are mem­bers of the SA Can­cer Plan Project Board.

The Plan is being informed by com­mu­ni­ty expe­ri­ences with can­cer pre­ven­tion and care in SA. Peo­ple with expe­ri­ence of can­cer and their fam­i­lies and car­ers, health­care prac­ti­tion­ers across the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tor, researchers, edu­ca­tors and the gen­er­al com­mu­ni­ty have con­tributed their expe­ri­ences and ideas, through in per­son and online forums.

For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it the SA Can­cer Plan web­page on the SA Health website.