Throughout the pandemic, the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Taskforce has been providing advocacy, guidance, support and education to ensure the needs of the cancer workforce and patients stay on the radar amidst all the other pressures and priorities.
Over the past two months, three themes have dominated the taskforce agenda: vaccination for patients affected by cancer; the impact of the pandemic on the cancer workforce - particularly nursing - and ongoing concerns about delayed cancer diagnoses as people put off routine checks.
Patients with cancer are significantly more susceptible to severe disease or death if they contract COVID-19. Despite this, taskforce clinicians were reporting high levels of misinformation and anxiety among patients about getting vaccinated, as well as uncertainty among some health professionals, so it was clear that the right messages were not getting through.
In response, a direct, fact-driven awareness social media campaign Got Cancer? Get Vaccinated was developed and implemented by the VCCN and rolled out through VCCC Alliance social channels and shared across the network in July.
The message was also shared by Victorian AMA President Dr Roderick McRae and shared on Channel 9 Sunrise.
Subsequently, discussions with the Victorian Department of Health led to prioritisation of Pfizer vaccinations for patients with cancer of all ages (including over 60). That said, VCCN stands by the ATAGI advice that people over 60 with cancer should access whichever vaccine they can: there is no evidence that people affected by cancer are at any greater risk of side effects than anyone else, and the Astra Zeneca vaccine is very safe for the vast majority of people.
Cancer Council Victoria is working with Peter Mac on a survey to better understand patient attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination to inform future messaging and ensure communication is addressing concerns in the most effective way possible.
The VCCN team is supporting two Department of Health cancer-related COVID-19 webinars in September:
15 September: RACGP webinar re-vaccination for people with cancer, with VCCN taskforce members Danielle Spence from Cancer Council Victoria and Ben Teh from Peter Mac.
17 September: COVID-19 Vaccine Webinar: for people with underlying medical conditions, speakers include VCCN Taskforce Chair Prof Grant McArthur and expert member, Dr Tricia Wright.
In Australia, cancer represents the greatest disease burden and highest mortality rate of any disease. Patient treatment visits for cancer care have increased in the past five years and will continue to rise during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The Victorian Cancer Registry has recorded a decline in pathology notifications throughout 2020 and into 2021 with an expected surge in case numbers and complexity as these emerge down the track. This will put added stress on a health system that is already at capacity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the reallocation of a large portion of the nursing workforce to COVID-response settings – testing, vaccination, hotel quarantine and contact tracing. Nurses are also leaving the profession at higher than usual rates due to burnout, early retirement and interstate relocation.
Health services are advertising for vacant positions and receiving no applicants or applicants lacking skills. Nursing shortfalls are leading to bed closures, resulting in delays of potentially curative surgical procedures causing significant delays in treatment for these patients.
With 45 per cent of the total medical workforce reporting burnout; a critical shortage of junior medical staff in public hospitals with large numbers of vacant positions and a pre-existing deficit in medical oncology across the state, the situation requires an urgent response.
The VCCN Taskforce has developed a range of suggestions to address and mitigate these issues and is lobbying for their adoption, amid concerns that ongoing workforce impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic could ultimately result in suboptimal care for Victorian patients.
Join the VCCN to receive regular updates regarding the impact of COVID-19 on cancer-related issues.
