Accessible Cancer Care to Enable Support for Survivors Programme

In Singapore, cancer patients are not consistently assessed for unmet survivorship care needs and systematically identified for subsequent referral to useful care services. To address this gap, a preliminary multidisciplinary program is developed to (i) routinely screen and identify cancer patients with high distress levels, and (ii) provide appropriate care referrals after a systematic review by a supportive care nurse. This study hypothesized that breast and gynecological cancer patients receiving timely screening for distress and appropriate supportive care services will report better improvement in quality of life as compared to non-recipients under usual care. This pilot study then aims to evaluate: (i) The effectiveness of the program on a patient level in improving the quality of life and the symptom burden of patients requiring further supportive services. (ii) The feasibility of the program's implementation on a health-system level among breast and gynaecological cancer patients in the outpatient oncology clinics at a specialty cancer centre.