Cancer in Australia--an update for GPs

General practitioners have a critical role to play in cancer control in Australia. Their work spans the full spectrum of cancer care--prevention, detection, treatment and palliation, and includes psychosocial support of patients and carers. The general practitioner practises clinical medicine in a very different setting and context from those of the hospital specialist. Problems are often undifferentiated, and illness is more common than disease.

This article provides an update on cancer, covering incidence, prevalence, mortality, age distribution, survival, costs, trends and screening.

From a primary care perspective, patients with a new diagnosis of cancer are infrequent, but providing ongoing care for patients with an established diagnosis of cancer, and their carers, poses substantial issues. The average practitioner will encounter about four new patients each year who will be diagnosed with a potentially fatal cancer, and have about 16 patients at any one time with a diagnosed cancer under their care.