Prostate cancer is now Australia’s most common cancer, recently overtaking breast cancer. It also tops of the list of cancers that experts fear have gone undetected as a result of the pandemic.

Since early 2020, the Victorian Cancer Registry has noticed a shortfall in cancer diagnoses compared to historic trends.

Of the now 7,000 missing cancer diagnoses, most involve men and prostate cancer accounts for 40% (2,800) of the undetected cases.

“We’d love to say we’ve seen this big drop in diagnoses because there’s less cancer overall in the community but, sadly, we know it’s a drop in detection not in cases,” says Professor Declan Murphy Director of Genito-Urinary Oncology at Peter Mac.

“That means we know there are many thousands of men out there in the community today, who should have been diagnosed with prostate cancer over the past two years, but who haven’t."

Prof Murphy says these are typically healthy men in their 60s and 70s who perhaps missed out on that usual check up with their GP because of lockdowns.

It is thought the  added difficulty seeing a GP during the pandemic compounded the long-standing issue of men being more reluctant to see their doctor.

“It’s a problem of under-diagnosis and also later-diagnosis, as we’re also seeing people arrive at centres like Peter Mac with more advanced cancers needing more intensive treatments," Prof Murphy also says.

“We really need to find these men so that they don’t miss the boat and end up with advanced cancer.”

Of the 7,000 cancer cases missing from the Victorian Cancer Registry during the pandemic:

• Two-thirds are men, and older people (aged 50 to 74 years) account more than half of cases
• Prostate cancer, followed by melanoma, have seen the sharpest declines in diagnoses
• Head and neck cancer diagnoses are also down likely due to fewer people seeing their dentist, which is a common point of detection

This Father’s Day as you reach out to the men in your life, find a way to mention the problem of Victoria's missing cancers.

“When you call dad to tell him you love him, it’s a great time to also ask if he’s been to his GP recently,” Prof Murphy also says.

“Or to any dads or men out there who perhaps put-off seeing the doc about a health concern, or missed a standard check-up or test, now is the time to get these issues properly checked out.”

Prostate cancer symptoms can include frequent urination, weak or interrupted urine flow or need to strain to empty the bladder, urge to urinate frequently at night, blood in the urine, new onset of erectile dysfunction.

Associate Professor John is a medical oncologist specialising in lung, thymus, mesothelioma, and familial cancers. Under the moniker Mayhemtom he uses music and song writing to process what happens at work, which helps him focus.

“I view it as cathartic and therapeutic,” he says, “it’s very much refocused another part of my brain, which has been wonderful.”

Through university, Associate Professor John was a working musician playing across Melbourne, before stepping back to focus on his studies.

During a stressful period at work five years ago he decided to revisit his creative outlet.

“I made a conscious decision to go back and try to play a bit more, and through that some songs started coming through.”

“Before I knew it, I had an album’s worth of songs.”

Listen to the single ‘Falling’ and read more about it here.

Recorded between Melbourne lockdowns, Associate Professor John’s work supporting patients and families is a strong theme across the twelve songs. They also address themes of love, family, politics, and climate change.

Asked about donating proceeds to the Foundation, Associate Professor John is emphatic,” that’s a better use of the funds than it coming to me.”

The release of playing music helps Associate Professor John continue delivering the very best quality care for his patients.

“It helps me get through what I do day to day, which I love. I am absolutely passionate about what I do as it is a privilege to look after people during their darkest hour, but it inevitably does have a cost.

Associate Professor John is also a translational researcher, taking fundamental lab research into the clinic to help develop new treatments and approaches to care.

Mayhemtom’s album launch is at The Toff in Town in Melbourne on 13 October. His seven-piece band features another Peter Mac clinician researcher on backing vocals.

‘The Art of Falling While Flying’ is out on 9 September, with a third of proceeds going to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.

To mark International Women’s Day 2023, the VCCC Alliance, The Royal Women’s Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are partnering to host a special event to highlight how women are under-served by the systems that should keep them happy, healthy and informed about their bodies - and how we can address the underlying issues.

Special guest speaker

The Hon Ged Kearney MP, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Chair of the National Women’s Health Advisory Council

Keynote

Gabrielle Jackson, associate news editor at Guardian Australia, journalist and author of Pain and Prejudice

The reality is that ‘women's pain is not taken as seriously as men's. Women are more likely to be disbelieved and denied treatment than men, even though women are far more likely to be suffering from chronic pain (2).

Women wait longer for cancer diagnoses (2) and research published last year showed that a woman in Australia presenting to an emergency department with a serious heart attack is half as likely to get the care she needs as a man and twice as likely to be dead in 12 months (3).

It’s time for an open discussion about this insidious issue.

Following a powerful speech about the impact of 'medical misogyny' and the announcement of the establishment of a new National Women’s Health Advisory Council (4) in December last year, Ms Ged Kearney, Assistant Minister for Health in the Australian Government, will join us to set the scene and speak about priorities and pathways forward.

Gabrielle Jackson, author of Pain and Prejudice - How the Medical System Ignores Women and What We Can Do About It (2) - will share what she has learned researching and writing about how women’s pain is treated in modern healthcare systems for the past eight years.

The speakers will join a panel of experts to discuss how this issue plays out in practice and what can be done to change the system, plus considerations for healthcare workers, researchers, policy makers and female patients themselves.

Confirmed panellists

Professor Sue Matthews, CEO, Royal Women’s Hospital

Dr David Speakman, Chief Medical Officer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Professor Zoe Wainer, Deputy Secretary for Public Health, Victorian Department of Health

Host and facilitator

Emeritus Professor Linda Kristjanson AO, Chair, VCCC Alliance

The presenting partners encourage everyone to join us in person or online for this highly topical discussion relevant to all health care professionals.

Where:  Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre - Level 7, Lecture Theatre B, 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne.

When: 3 March 2023 - Lecture and panel discussion hybrid event - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Free tickets can be booked at Sex and gender bias: Towards gender equity in Australian healthcare | VCCC Alliance.

Footnote:

1. Assistant Minister Kearney - speech at the Health and Medical Research Awards in Melbourne on the establishment of a National Women’s Health Advisory Council, Dec 2022.

2. Pain and Prejudice, Gabrielle Jackson (2019)

3. Meet the speakers: Dr Zoe Wainer on sex differences in healthcare

4. Labor launches national women’s health advisory council to tackle medical misogyny

Both were developed thanks to extensive input from Peter Mac patients, their carers, and family.

The Patient Experience Strategic Plan 2023-25 identifies four priority areas for improving the patient experience at Peter Mac: navigating, personalising information and communication, building capacity, and building support networks.

Priorities were identified through analysis of consumer feedback gathered through online consultation, patient surveys, real-time feedback surveys, and close collaboration with Peter Mac’s Community Advisory Committee.

Current and future improvement actions have been grouped within each the priority areas - resulting in a cohesive, clear, and detailed roadmap for improvement of the Peter Mac patient experience up to 2026. 

The Supporting Carers Strategy 2022-2026 provides a coordinated approach to the way we care for carers, acknowledging the critical and varied roles played by informal carers in the cancer community.

Informed by the Victorian government’s Victorian Carer Strategy as well as feedback from staff, it prioritises the health and wellbeing of carers, their needs outside of caring responsibilities, the stresses commonly experienced by carers, and the need for appropriate support and services. 

Director of Prevention and Wellbeing at Peter Mac, Geri McDonald explains “the consumer feedback we heard for both projects really highlighted the need for better information and communication, and the need for more help navigating services.”

“We have already initiated projects to address some of these needs, and more will be introduced in the years to come.”

“Placing consumers at the centre of everything we do is fundamental to the Peter Mac ethos. We are so grateful to everybody who contributed their thoughts and feedback to help improve things for future Peter Mac patients and carers.”

Read the Supporting Carers Strategy 2022-2026

Read the Patient Experience Strategic Plan 2023-25

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