Background
Use of Patient reported outcomes (PROs) to guide routine cancer care is associated with improved outcomes but their implementation into routine practice is limited. This study reviewed current Australian national, state and territory cancer plans to assess how they addressed the use of PROs.
Methods
We identified publicly available current cancer plans, and associated publications, issued by Australian national, state and territory governing bodies. This search was conducted through Google in July 2023. Identified publications were reviewed to discern if PROs were mentioned. If so, they were further analyzed for reasons, timeframe, methods and responsibility for PROs collection.
Results
Ten pertinent publications dating from 2010 to 2023 were identified as relevant to the study. These publications were titled cancer plans and strategy implementations plans which were represented by seven states and the Australian national cancer plan. Eight of the reviewed plans underscored the utility of PROs in cancer care. The reasons for PROs collection were to advance clinical care (n= 8), improve access to cancer and associated services (n= 5), and better quality of life for cancer survivors (n= 7). There was no consensus on the method for PRO collection, with three publications suggesting three different measures. Four publications acknowledged that PROs collection was a multi-organizational undertaking.
Conclusion
There is general acknowledgement and plans to assess PROs in the Australian cancer care system. This is agreed to be done across the patient’s journey. However, there is no standardized method to do so. The lack of standardization can be attributed to the segmented structure of the Australian health system. Addressing this absence of uniformity necessitates the establishment of a nationally consistent benchmark and reporting approach to spur future developments in this field.