What does supportive oncology do that palliative care doesn’t already do? Answering that question forms part of the rationale behind this text. Supportive oncology is delivered across the whole cancer experience from diagnosis through treatment to post-treatment care, and so necessitates the involvement of most clinical specialties and many non-clinical services. Palliative care – which focuses on advanced disease and end of life – has a special and important role within this broader and longer-term scope of supportive care in cancer.

This handbook defines the new and emerging specialty of supportive oncology and equips the workforce with the appropriate skill sets:

• Providing personalized and targeted treatments consistent with the stage of disease
• A focus on preservation and improvement in quality of life
• Affecting survival and the quality of that survival
• Permitting the use of the most effective anti-cancer agents
• Assisting in accurate diagnosis and management