Department of Health

Home Based Cancer Care (HBCC) is an important systemic anticancer therapy initiative that is designed to support some Victorian patients to have their chemotherapy delivered within their home.

While not every chemotherapy agent is suitable for delivery in the home, there are some cytotoxic and other anticancer drugs that can be safely delivered out of hospital.

This toolkit covers all aspects of implementation and maintaining a quality and safe home-based cancer chemotherapy service. However it should be noted that HBCC is not intended to completely replace the need for a patient to have to attend the chemotherapy day unit of the hospital providing the service. Some aspects of care such as the first cycle of any cytotoxic regimen may still be required at the health service, never-the-less where possible, it does allow “care close to home” as appropriate and it is anticipated this will be very beneficial for some patients.

The clinical experts and committee members who informed this work recognised the value of this type of chemotherapy cancer service but also appreciated there are a range of requirements that need to be in place for it to work safely. HBCC should not be considered as just a Hospital in-the Home (HITH) service delivering chemotherapy and the toolkit seeks to address experience and training of those involved as well as associated funding sources to assist its sustainability.

Reviewed 29 October 2024

Health.vic

Contact details

Statewide and Specialist Programs Department of Health

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