Part 1: The importance of carers

Why are family and friends important?

• Family and friends can play a very important role during care.
• They often attend consultations, provide care at home, help with information, help when making decisions about treatments, and often provide emotional support.
• Most patients have one (or a few) key family/friends involved in their cancer care.
• Commonly this is a spouse/partner, adult child, sibling, or parent but family can mean different things to different people, so this may include other relatives, friends, neighbours, or colleagues.
• Some people might not identify as having a “carer”, but instead see their family member or friend as more of a "support person". Either way, if someone attends consultations with you and is involved in your care, eTRIO will be relevant to you both.
• In this program we will refer to this person as a “carer”