DEC 2011 issue 48
Announcement of Australian Government funding to support people affected by prostate cancer. In the last Federal Budget, a major funding boost of $3.9 million provided to PCFA through Cancer Australia has caused great excitement – especially as now it’s time to put plans for its best use into action. A strategy for how PCFA can best use $4 million in federal funds is taking shape, as National Support Groups Manager John Friedman reports. From July 1, 2011 the Australian Government is making $3.97 million available over three years, to fund PCFA efforts to provide national evidencebased, self-management information, resources and psychological support for men affected by prostate cancer and their families. With the funding agreement’s stated intention to support people affected by prostate cancer through providing increased resources and support, the
three objectives of this project are: • To strengthen and grow PCFA’s support group network. • To develop support kits and evidence-based resources. • To devise and implement new web-based communication hub. The basis of the first objective is that the network of existing prostate cancer groups will be strengthened, especially through the development, delivery and evaluation of leadership training and greater availability of resources specific to support groups – in print, digital and web-based forms.
In tandem with these improvements, PCFA will strive to clearly define the purpose, benchmarks and measurable targets of the national support group network, which will ultimately help individual groups gain improved assess and acceptability among health networks and health professionals. After completing a needs analysis to accurately assess where new group locations should be targeted, PCFA’s ambition will be to establish 90 new support groups within the three-year funding period: 45 additional groups by December 2012, and the full total of 90 by December 2013. continues on page 3