Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

Aims

With greater demands on health services during COVID-19, Cancer Council Victoria (CCV) aimed to increase awareness of our 13 11 20 cancer support line to take pressure off the acute and primary sectors and ensure people affected by cancer were well-supported.

We set out to:

• Increase health professional referrals to 13 11 20.
• Improve access to services most in demand including specialist nurse support, mental health services and financial counselling.
• Increase enquiries to 13 11 20 particularly in regional and rural Victoria.

Methods

Leveraging the success of our Department of Health-funded ACCESS Program (Accessing Cancer Care Equitably using Support Services), we implemented a three-pronged approach which included:

1. Delivering tailored education to 57 health services across Victoria.
2. Expanding resourcing of our mental health, financial counselling and 13 11 20 services.
3. Launching paid media campaigns to increase community awareness of 13 11 20 in regional Victoria.

Results

From 30 June 2022 to 30 June 2023, when compared to the previous year:

• Online referrals from health services increased by 177%,
• Connections to 13 11 20 from rural and regional areas increased by 55%,
• Financial counselling referrals increased by 68%,
• Emotional support referrals increased by 159%.
• Our Nov 2022 to Feb 2023 media campaign reached over 2.2million regional Victorians. During the campaign visitors to our support webpage increased by 70%, when compared to the previous period.

Conclusions

A combined stakeholder engagement and strategic marketing approach, supported by additional staff has been a successful model for increasing awareness and uptake of our 13 11 20 service during and post COVID-19. Importantly this has helped relieve the pressure on health services and improve access to support for Victorians affected by cancer, particularly those in regional and rural areas.