Professional Standards in Psychosocial Oncology

Registrants are expected to have knowledge, skills and behaviours appropriate to their role in the following areas:

• The psychological effects of cancer and its  treatment on individuals, particularly in relation to loss of confidence and  fear of recurrence
• The psychosocial consequences associated with living with  and beyond cancer
• Effective and appropriate communication with people of different ages,  cultural and socio-economic backgrounds along the cancer journey
• Decision-making to seek help where there are concerns about an  individual’s mental wellbeing
• Use of local pathways to refer individuals with psychosocial support needs to  appropriate services
• Understanding and knowledge of the wide range of sources of support that are important to  individuals living with and beyond cancer
• The potential psychosocial consequences  associated with living with and beyond cancer
• The needs of individuals using cancer, late  effects, survivorship and follow-up services to provide psychological support on a  wide range of diverse issues
• Supporting individual patients in developing coping strategies that are effective for  them as they live with and beyond cancer
• Helping patients to develop approaches to monitoring and managing their own  mental wellbeing
• Providing advice and interventions that enable individuals to manage the impact  of cancer and its treatment on their relationships with those important to them
• Making appropriate interventions to reduce the potential for individuals to be  inappropriately disadvantaged at work by the consequences of their diagnosis and treatment
• Using different approaches to assessing psychosocial needs
• Using complex strategies to deal with communication issues
• Identifying when patients have mental health needs that require referral to  specialist services and facilitates this process
• Working with other agencies and services to ensure that cancer, late effects and  survivorship care is fully integrated into the care plans of individuals with new and pre-existing mental health illness