16 June 2020
Thousands of Australian men with prostate cancer will have improved access to specialist nurses following a $23 million expansion of the Australian Government’s Prostate Cancer Nurses Program.
The Government is investing $23 million in the program through the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia over the next three years to support existing prostate cancer nurses and place specialist nurses.
Prostate cancer is estimated to be the second most common cause of cancer death in Australian men in 2020, with an estimated 3,152 deaths, according to the Commonwealth Department of Health.
Sadly, more than 16,700 Australian men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year.
Since 2013, this program has funded the recruitment, training and placement of prostate cancer nurses in 29 locations across the country.
The 2020–21 round of funding will employ nurses at 24 health services or cancer centres, including Genesis Care Cancer Centres (Bedford Park, Kurralta Park, Adelaide and Elizabeth), Mt Gambier, the Port Lincoln Health Service and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.