When is the right time?: Advancing early-intervention Palliative Care for people with pancreatic cancer

When is the right time for people with cancer to access Palliative Care? It has been shown that with access to the right information and support early in their illness, cancer patients have improved quality of life, fewer unplanned hospitalisations, and experience care that more closely reflects their goals and values.

For the last five years, Professor Jennifer Philip, lead of the Collaborative Centre’s Palliative Nexus research group, has been developing an implementation model for hospitals that will advance and standardise early-integration of palliative care for cancer patients. Jennifer wants to shift the narrative away from palliative care being perceived as only end-of-life care and towards a focus on living fully, regardless of stage of illness.

The Care Plus program—developed as part of Jennifer’s 2020 MRFF funded project—advances the implementation of early-intervention palliative care across three Victorian hospitals. The program is an extra layer of support for people with advanced cancer, delivered by specialist supportive care clinicians alongside regular cancer treatment. In these appointments, patients and their families or carers receive expert management with screening for symptoms and psychological distress, social and community support, and assistance with decision making around care. The oncology and Care Plus teams work collaboratively to provide a network of care to seamlessly address the complex needs of people with cancer and their families.

Care Plus has now been successfully embedded over the past five years in St Vincent’s Hospital, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Work is currently underway to extend this model to involve 9 cancer streams and include regional Victorian patients. Jennifer was commended for her work with Care Plus at the 2025 Oceanic Palliative Care Conference with the Palliative Care Australia Innovation award.

Pancreatic cancer has been a particular focus for Care Plus. Last week, the Pancare Foundation launched a set of evidence-based referral pathways to early palliative care based on the Care Plus model, called ‘Pancreatic Pathways’. These resources were funded by and aligned with Cancer Australia’s National Pancreatic Cancer Roadmap. The collaborative project was led by Jennifer alongside a national group of co-investigators and with extensive expert and community consultation, incorporating evidence-based guidance for clinicians plus educational materials and resources that are CPD eligible for healthcare staff.

The implementation of the Pancreatic Pathways model promotes equitable, personalised support throughout the duration of the illness and has made strides in improving patient quality of life. One pancreatic cancer nurse coordinator reflected on how Care Plus facilitates the best possible outcomes. “I could see the obvious need for…for the patients in this diagnostic group...Care Plus really enhanced the ability to meet those needs”.

For patients receiving Care Plus, the access to urgent attention was appreciated. “She said this morning, ‘how are you?’ and I said, ‘I’m in so much pain.’ ‘Sit down, let me see if I can help you.’ That means a lot to a patient, I think.”

Others valued the opportunity for planning and assurance of future support. “It was great, they kind of went that next step… really supportive in trying to find a way to (deal with) this and in future...it was comforting to know that there was somebody out there who might even be able to offer some emotional support, or some physical support to know what to do.”

Care Plus is available at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. More information is available at www.careplusau.org.

Pancreatic Pathways resources and patient information are available at https://pancare.org.au/pancreatic-cancer-roadmap-projects.