South Island AYA Service
Purpose
The Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) National Service Specifications (MoH, 2009) were launched by the Ministry of Health in March 2010. This project aims to support the development of a South Island service that meets the needs of the South Island AYA with a cancer diagnosis and their families and is supported by the AYA Advisory Group.
AYA Service Specifications (PDF, 189 KB)
Youth Development Strategy (PDF, 312 KB)
Objectives
To define the parameters and requirements that will enable the implementation of the AYA service specifications (MoH 2009) in the South Island. AYA Project Scope (PDF, 81 KB).
To coordinate care directed to the specific needs of adolescent and young adult cancer patients by partnering paediatric and adult cancer tertiary services to maximise:
- The cure rate for adolescents/young adults with cancer
- Entry into age-appropriate clinical trials
- The psychosocial care delivered to the patient and their family and whānau and
- A youth development approach to care.
Core Principles of the AYA Service
The South Island AYA Advisory Group will promote the core principals of the AYA Service Specifications, namely:
- contributes to the objectives of the Youth Health Action Plan (Ministry) and the Youth Development Plan (Ministry of Youth Affairs)
- provides a strong focus on youth development and addresses the psychosocial needs of adolescents and young adults
- promotes partnership and is patient and family and whānau focussed
- is safe and effective whilst provided as locally as possible, within the services most age-appropriate for an individual patient
- provides a formal partnering of adult and paediatric cancer services to enable optimal and age-appropriate diagnosis and treatment
- is provided to achieve equity of outcome
- is based on international best practice and evidence-based research
- provides youth development models of care
- is monitored and evaluated regularly
- is integrated with other health services
- is culturally safe and
- is fiscally responsible.
