News release

Group to Discuss Cancer Care Closer to Home

Cancer Care Nova Scotia

CANCER CARE N.S. Group to Discuss Cancer Care Closer to Home


A group of people are gathering in Dartmouth on Wednesday, June 7, to talk about ways to improve the quality of community-based cancer care in the province.

The round-table discussion is hosted by Cancer Care Nova Scotia and it brings together people who are involved in community cancer care around the province. The objective is to provide quality care for patients where they live so they can stay closer to their homes. That means fewer trips to far away centres.

"One of our goals is to provide the same standard of high-quality cancer care across the province with the same level of access for everyone," said Dr. Andrew Padmos, commissioner of Cancer Care Nova Scotia.

"The initial focus will be to standardize treatment that already occurs in regional and community hospitals, particularly chemotherapy and oncology-related surgeries," he said. "The long- term goal is to have a spectrum of services available locally, from screening to palliative care. Tomorrow's meeting is the beginning."

Cancer Care Nova Scotia has a mandate to co-ordinate, strengthen and evaluate cancer services in Nova Scotia. While it does not directly deliver cancer care and treatment, it can facilitate, strengthen, and co-ordinate the efforts of health care providers to develop a uniform, provincewide cancer system with high standards and equal access.

"From our perspective, we'll be able to offer our patients the same quality of care they would receive in Halifax, but without the discomfort of travelling," said Patrick Flinn, site manager at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow.

"Our medical staff will also benefit from having standardized guidelines for practice," he said. "This supports what we've started to develop in our own program, as well as provides a real connection to the work going on in Halifax, Sydney and other hospitals in the province."

The objective of Wednesday's round-table discussion is to decide on a workable model for delivering cancer care in communities, and to determine the steps and time frames to achieve it.

Cancer Care Nova Scotia is a program of the Department of Health. Its integrated prevention, education and treatment programs are evaluated on the basis of being community-focused, patient- centred, cost-effective and based on sound evidence.


NOTE TO EDITORS: A backgrounder on the delivery of community- based cancer care in Nova Scotia and a proposed model for delivering cancer care can be found below:

Cancer Care Nova Scotia's Proposed Model for Delivering Community-based Cancer Care

  • The Existing System

Currently, cancer patients encounter a broad spectrum of health care providers and services across the system.

There are three formal cancer programs in the province:

  • the QEII Cancer Care Program consisting of in-patient beds and out-patient services provided by the Nova Scotia Cancer Centre.
  • the Cape Breton Cancer Centre attached to the Cape Breton Healthcare Complex. (The QEII and Cape Breton centres are the only facilities that provide tertiary oncology including radiation treatment in Nova Scotia for adults.)
  • the IWK Grace Health Care Centre provides pediatric oncology.

Secondary cancer services, particularly chemotherapy and oncology-related surgical procedures, are available throughout the province at regional and community hospitals.

There is no provincewide co-ordination of services nor are there provincial standards for the provision of cancer care.

  • The Proposed Model

Cancer Care Nova Scotia proposes a provincial cancer system anchored by the tertiary cancer centres in Halifax and Sydney, with a network of District Cancer Programs based in every healthcare district in the province. The District Cancer Programs will bring primary and secondary cancer care closer to home for cancer patients, both adults and children.

Each District Cancer Program will ensure comprehensive primary and secondary cancer care by working with the community hospitals, physicians, other health care providers, and support groups in its district to develop and provide the necessary services.

The initial focus for District Cancer Programs will be on standardizing the delivery of treatment that already occurs in regional and district hospitals, particularly chemotherapy- and oncology-related surgeries.

The long-term goal will be to have a spectrum of services available through the District Cancer Programs, from screening to palliation. This model is being discussed among the province's cancer care providers at the round-table discussion in Dartmouth.