Survivors of colorectal cancer can experience a range of issues from the disease and its treatment, including ongoing side effects, emotional, psychological, and practical concerns. Patients frequently report a greater need for more information and greater support. In Australia, after completing treatment most patients have ongoing follow up with a cancer specialist that involves 3 monthly hospital visits in the first year. SCORE compared usual specialist-led follow-up care with a shared-cared (general practitioner (GP) + specialist) model to determine the impact on global quality of life, but also to examine a range of other patient-reported outcomes, use of clinical resources, and costs to the health care system.
Recruitment Status: Recruitment closed in May 2021.
Participant follow-up ended in May 2022.
Findings to date
Main study findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago in June 2023.
The main paper, ‘SCORE: a randomised controlled trial evaluating shared care (GP and oncologist) follow-up compared to usual oncologist follow-up for survivors of colorectal cancer’ has been published in eClinicalMedicine and is available for viewing via The Lancet journal.
A first qualitative paper relating to implementation has been published. Further papers are under review and in development.
A seminar recording related to SCORE is available on our website.
Sponsor
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Funding
Cancer Australia
Principal investigator
Professor Michael Jefford
Email: