ntroduction:
Increasingly cancer services are incorporating integrative oncology services to enhance the holistic care of patients and meet patient expectations. Integrating evidence based complementary medicine (CM) into mainstream cancer care can provide viable options for relief of symptoms that may not be relieved by conventional treatments .In 2014 the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse comprehensive cancer centre opened with a mission to incorporate an integrative oncology (IO) service and develop supportive care from time of diagnosis.
Objectives
To present a model of holistic supportive care service development incorporating complementary therapies, exercise and supportive care holistic medical consultation to enhance the care of patients attending the comprehensive cancer service
Methods
Outlining the service development, strategies for service growth, use of PROMS and integration into mainstream cancer care.The IO service offers comprehensive medical specialist consultation, exercise physiologist and programs, individual therapies such as acupuncture, massage, reflexology and group classes in yoga, meditation and qi gong. Patients are referred via medical specialist or self-referred. Collaboration and benchmarking is developing with international services with similar care models .
Results
Between January 2015 and April 2017, 1,506 new patients attended the IO service. The majority were female (66%) and between 51-70 years (51%). Occasions of service per month ranged from 450-700 in the past year. 10 000/year Over 60% of patients attended more than once. PROMs , MDT and multidisciplinary research have enhanced integration. Research and collection of PROMS is embedded into clinical practice to enable evidence base of service provision to be developed alongside clinical practice.The feasibility of our model has been tested
Conclusions
The IO service at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse is currently the most comprehensive on offer in Australia. Lifehouse is proving to be a robust and dynamic program model for future supportive care cancer services.