Oncological aftercare “in front of the door”

Experts emphasize the need for life-like care facilities

Vienna (OTS) – April 13, 2023 – Cancer.AndLife! What do people who have conquered the disease need? And what are the challenges for the healthcare system? A top-class group of experts discussed this on Thursday at the round table “Life-related care facilities from Vorarlberg to Vienna”. More than ever, oncological aftercare is in the limelight – around 385,000 people or 4% of the total population in Austria are living with cancer [1].

“With the project Krebs.UndLeben! we at Sanofi have been working together with around 50 leading experts for more than two years on a platform for further optimism in oncological aftercare“, says Mag. Marcus Dietmayer, Head of Oncology Sanofi Austria.

Four of them discussed this on the podium today:

• Prim. Hannes KaufmannBoard of Directors 3rd Medical Department Center for Oncology and Hematology at the Klinik Favoriten location and oncological outpatient clinic and (interdisciplinary) therapy outpatient clinic at the Klinik Landstraße
• ao. Univ.-Prof.in Dr.in Beate Wimmer-Puchingerpublic health expert, works at various universities and president of the professional association of Austrian psychologists/ BÖP
• Prim. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Thomas Winder, PhDHead of the Department of Internal Medicine II (oncology, hematology, gastroenterology and infectiology) at the LKH Feldkirch, as well as
• Director Univ.-Prof. dr Dominic WolfUniversity Clinic for Internal Medicine V, Innsbruck Medical University.

Kaufmann: “Austrian health care increasingly needs decentralized outpatient clinics for aftercare”

„Especially in rural areas, people diagnosed with cancer often have to travel long distances for check-ups and simple maintenance therapy,” explained Prim. Doz. Dr. Hannes Kaufmann. At first glance, inner-city care seems to be well established in many cases, but this applies above all to the clinical area in the oncological centers.

„After cancer therapy in the clinic, patients need a decentralized contact point for aftercare and support. This actually no longer has to take place in the hospital and could be adapted to the new living conditions of the patients. This would require more specialized offers to enable those affected to reintegrate into their ‘old/new’ life.”

Kaufmann sees another piece of the jigsaw puzzle in the current negotiations on fiscal equalization “to establish realistic non-clinical care offers in the field of oncological aftercare both in rural and urban areas throughout Austria“, after all, the financing is a major stumbling block for optimized networking and coordination between the system partners and the federal states.

Wimmer-Puchinger: “Comprehensive low-threshold access to psycho-oncological support”

“According to Statistics Austria, more than 43,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Of these, 19,600 were women. Breast cancer accounts for around 28 percent of new cases in women [2]. The fact is that there is no health without mental health. This also applies to the reverse conclusion: There is no illness without accompanying mental stress. Of course, this applies in particular to threatening diagnoses such as cancer“, emphasized associate professor Dr. Beate Wimmer-Puchinger.

It therefore calls for comprehensive, easy-to-understand information for those affected and their families, low-threshold access to psychological support, the expansion of interfaces to different healthcare providers and, above all, a transparent transition from acute treatment to psycho-oncological rehabilitation and medical and onco-psychological aftercare.

Winder: “Oncological aftercare is also preventive care”

Prim. Priv. -Doc. dr Thomas Winder, PhD. “Improving oncological aftercare from Vorarlberg to Vienna or Burgenland while at the same time ensuring more uniformity is a highly complex task. On the one hand, the challenge lies in the fact that the federal states and thus also the centers proceed differently. On the other hand, the structure becomes more complicated because the various disciplines involved in the care of oncological patients each implement their own aftercare programs. Here the coordination does not always work optimally.” Winder emphasized that aftercare does not have to take place exclusively at the centers, but should move closer to the patients. “However, the connection to the centers and the further development of tumor documentation as a central element for standardized recording and evaluation are important of aftercare.”

Wolf: “Quality-driven pooling of competence”

“When designing supply structures, we have to differentiate between urban metropolitan regions such as Vienna and more rural structures such as in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Basically, a lot of hospitals are already active in haemato-oncology and are increasingly better coordinated, for example with joint national tumor boards. I therefore see no compelling need to open additional extramural structures in the West. In general, this is only conceivable with a connection to the centers“, says director Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dominik Wolf.

“Structures like in Germany, which are characterized by enormous diversification and a big fight for the distribution of patients“He declined. “It’s bad for the patients.” Wolf named the Comprehensive Cancer Center Innsbruck (CCCI) as a positive example of how a care concept that is very well graded with the partner hospitals can work. “This allows us to work in a quality-driven manner. In my view, nationwide centralized tumor boards make a lot of sense. In this way, we can also pool competencies“, he clarified. Finally, Wolf emphasized the growing importance of patient organizations: “We see that patient advocacy groups are increasingly being heard. We also need such involvement when we discuss the supply structures.”

Further information on oncological aftercare:

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