'Really traumatic': the postcode lottery of cancer care

Key points

• A new national pathway for rural cancer patients recommends care as close to home as is safely possible. It was published after research by Deakin University found rural Australians are 13 per cent less likely to survive cancer, largely due to late diagnoses.
• Nurse Victoria Turner, who had to travel from the NSW Northern Rivers to Queensland for surgery after an ovarian tumour was found, helped shape the guidelines. She described the experience as really traumatic and said the situation was a postcode lottery.
• The guidelines were developed with Deakin researchers and the Cancer Council.