Allied Health Cancer Care
Our specialist allied health cancer teams support patients undergoing cancer treatment by providing comprehensive, holistic care focussed on:
- diet and nutrition
- exercise
- daily functioning at home
- emotional and financial support.
These staff work in partnership with your entire treating team to provide a collaborative and supportive experience before, during, and after your cancer treatment.
These services are part of the broader multidisciplinary Integrated Cancer Service, which provides safe, high-quality personalised care close to home to people with cancer in the Rockingham Peel Group catchment area.
How to access these services
There are two ways to access the allied health services detailed below:
- ask a member of your treating team to refer you
- your treating team will refer you to a service directly.
Diet and nutrition are especially important if you have cancer, and every person has different dietary needs and challenges.
A dietitian can help improve your quality of life by:
- helping you maintain your weight
- making sure your body has the right amount of nutrition to maintain healthy function
- advising how to manage side effects that impact your eating
- advising what to eat and drink during and after treatment.
Our specialised cancer dietitians are dedicated to optimising diet and nutritional support for patients across all cancer types.
Throughout your cancer journey, they can provide personalised assessment, education and management on your weight, diet and nutritional intake.
If you have a loss of appetite and ongoing weight loss (1 kg or more per week), please ask you team to refer you to a dietitian.
Occupational therapy supports people throughout their cancer journey to engage in:
- daily living activities – such as dressing, toileting, eating and being mobile
- leisure activities they find meaningful.
Our specialist senior occupational therapists provide holistic care to people living with or beyond cancer to help:
- improve their quality of life
- manage fatigue
- reduce cancer treatment side effects
- them achieve their goals.
Our therapists provide services including:
- lymphoedema prospective surveillance and early intervention
- home visiting service (including home based functional assessments, assistive technology and home modifications)
- plans to manage fatigue and conserve energy conservation.
Contact Cancer Occupational Therapy Services
- Woodbridge Clinic, Elanora Drive, Cooloongup – see the map (PDF 2MB)
Phone 9599 4697 - Mandurah Community Health Centre, Lakes Rd, Mandurah – see the Google map (external site)
Phone 9586 4402
Operating hours
8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday to Friday
Our specialist senior physiotherapists are experienced in:
- managing swelling in soft tissues due to fluid build-up in the lymphatic system (lymphoedema)
- the diagnosis and treatment of cancer (oncology).
The team provides holistic care to patients living with or beyond cancer to help:
- improve their quality of life
- improve strength and mobility
- manage pain and fatigue
- reduce cancer treatment side effects
- promote wellbeing throughout the cancer journey
- help achieve their goals.
Available services include:
- risk reduction and early intervention in lymphoedema
- oncology rehabilitation (including post-surgical)
- advice on self-management of chronic, cancer-related conditions, including fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, and pain
- exercise prescription for cancer related conditions
- an oncology exercise group
- mobility and functional assessments, including prescribing mobility aids.
Contact Cancer Physiotherapy Services
Physiotherapy services are provided in two locations – please refer to your appointment letter for your therapy location.
- Woodbridge Clinic, Elanora Drive, Cooloongup – see the map (PDF 2MB)
Phone 9599 4697 - Mandurah Community Health Centre, Lakes Rd, Mandurah – see the Google map (external site)
Phone 9586 4402
Operating hours
8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday to Friday
This service provides cancer patients, their families and carers with personal, emotional and practical help as they navigate a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Social workers are key members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team and offer a wide range of support and access to relevant community support services.
Welfare officers provide information and assistance with financial matters, transport and accommodation options.
Available support includes:
- Comprehensive patient and family assessments and short-term interventions to help enhance independence in the community from the time of diagnosis, during and after treatment.
- Referral to appropriate community and support services to assist with:
- personal care and domestic tasks
- legal, financial and housing issues
- other psychosocial issues
- Counselling and support to patients on:
- adjusting to a new diagnosis
- managing grief and loss associated with illness and bereavement
- referral to specialist services.
- Crisis intervention for people experiencing complex social situations, including:
- relationship breakdown
- carers stress
- family domestic violence
- elder abuse
- substance misuse
- homelessness.
- Assisting carers to access Carers Support Program.
- Advising where to find information about legal and financial matters, including enduring power of attorney and enduring power of guardianship.
Contact Cancer Social Work Services
Location: Woodbridge Clinic, Elanora Drive, Cooloongup
Phone 9599 4697
Operating hours: 8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday to Wednesday
Our comprehensive speech pathology provides holistic, patient-centred speech pathology services for patients across all cancer types.
Both cancer and cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, can impact your ability to speak, eat and communicate effectively. Left untreated, these challenges can significantly affect your quality of life.
Our speech pathologists provide personalised assessment, management, education, and treatment, with a focus the following common issues.
- Dry mouth (xerostomia) or mouth pain (mucositis) can affect your voice, oral health and eating, making it difficult to maintain your overall wellbeing. It can also make it difficult to socialise and dine out.
- Swallowing difficulties may cause food, liquids, or even saliva to enter your airway and be inhaled by your lungs (aspiration pneumonia). To promote safer, more efficient swallowing, we offer thorough assessment and management of swallowing issues including:
- examining your swallowing in detail using a scope
- rehabilitation strategies like exercise, diet modifications and fluid adjustments.
- Communication, speech and voice changes can be caused by cancer treatment or changes to the brain caused by cancer. These may make:
- it harder to for you process information
- it more difficult to communicate your thoughts
- your speech or voice sound different.
Our speech pathology services can assess and help you manage communication, speech, and voice changes.
Contact Cancer Speech Pathology Services
Location: Woodbridge Clinic, Elanora Drive, Cooloongup
Phone: 9599 4823
Operating hours: 8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday to Friday.
In an emergency
Please go to your nearest emergency department (ED). If you are having chemotherapy or immunotherapy, present your purple card to the ED staff.
Return to the Integrated Cancer Service page.