Teal Support Program - Health Professionals
What is the Teal Support Program?
The Teal Support Program is a free telehealth outreach program supporting women with ovarian cancer throughout their diagnosis, treatment and beyond. The main aim of the program is to provide continuity of care when they are not regularly seeing their treating team to focus on areas of care where there are unmet needs.
The Teal Support Program is the embodiment of Ovarian Cancer Australia’s vision that no woman with ovarian cancer walks alone.
Click here to download a digital version of the Teal Support Brochure.
How does it work?
The program works collaboratively with treating institutions to support the activities of clinicians whilst looking for gaps in care and addressing areas where there are unmet needs.
It is a consistent point of reference for the women and their carers, providing support and triaging problems and checking back in with the local team on decision making, making appropriate referrals as needed.
The ovarian cancer nurses will regularly update the team on progress with women and discuss with the local team issues that require a decision on intervention.
Decision making always remains with the local treating team.
The Teal Support Program utilises a tele-health model, there is no face to face service.
This is particularly useful in rural and regional areas that may not have access to as many resources as metropolitan hospitals.
Remote access to services is essential given the incidence of ovarian cancer across the vast geographical spread of Australia.
The Teal Support Program is particularly suited to women with ovarian cancer due to the complex, challenging nature of the disease (rare cancer, low survival rate, high recurrence rate and the resulting sense of isolation, anxiety/depression, and fear of recurrence).
Who are the Teal Support Program team?
The service is delivered by trained oncology/ gynae nurses with at least five years of experience in caring for women with ovarian cancer.
We have currently supported over 1000 women on the Teal Support Program in the 4 years it has been running.
The team has access to a counsellor and psychologist within the psychosocial services team to refer to, if needed.
The service will be available from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm AEST.
How can people access the Teal Support Program?
Clinicians can identify women who they believe will require more care. Any woman can be referred at any point in their journey.
Referral time points that work well are at MDT review, prior to completing active treatment or clinical trials.
Clinicians can ask women if they want to participate in OCA’s Teal Support Program and are willing to pass on their contact details to us.
The clinician can then simply email the woman’s details to care@ovariancancer.net.au or phone 1300 660 334. We will then contact them. Women can also self-refer to the program. Patients can also be referred by using the referral form below
For further information and support about the Teal Support Program, please contact an ovarian cancer nurse on 1300 660 334, email care@ovariancancer.net.au or fill out the form below.
You may also wish to take a look at our shop to view our suite of support resources, brochures and posters to display at your treatment centre or organisation.
If you are a person diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you can find more information on our Teal Support Program webpage, as well as a form to sign up.
The Teal Support Program fills many gaps in the services currently available to women living with ovarian cancer.
