Cancer Council NSW is here to help you as a healthcare professional. If you have a patient or carer who needs support, we can help you find the right service to meet their information, emotional or practical needs throughout their cancer experience. 

We’ve just launched a new section on our website dedicated to health professionals and how you can provide supportive care to your patients.  

As health professionals, you are uniquely positioned to observe the many impacts of cancer and to connect patients and their carers to supportive care services, helping to ease the burden of a cancer diagnosis.  

Diagnosing cancer involves a combination of tests and scans to find and assess abnormal cells. Here are some of the main tests and imaging techniques used for cancer diagnosis…

At age 16 Riley Bennett was told by a high school adviser he should train as a baker. Setting his sights higher, the Indigenous student has seized his opportunities and is now studying to become a doctor.

The Port Macquarie local, in the third year of his medical degree at UNSW, says he never thought he was smart enough to go to university let alone medicine.

“In year 10, I went to see the careers adviser to discuss what courses I should choose for year 11 and 12,” Bennett says.

“I aspired to work in a field where I could help people. We talked about a number of options but at the end of our discussion he handed me some forms to fill out and said ‘you should be a baker’.”

For tourists the Solomon Islands are all about sandy beaches and azure lagoons –but behind this glossy exterior life can be tough, and the nation faces a raft of socio-economic, environmental and healthcare challenges.

With a population of 515 000, the archipelago is the world’s second most aid dependent nation with 61% of its revenue based on overseas support. Its health statistics reflect this, with high birth rates, high infant and maternal mortality, and 22.7% of people living below the poverty line.

When RCS Coffs Harbour student Grace Edwards landed in the Solomon Islands for her four-week medical placement, she knew she was on the adventure of a lifetime – but she also knew she would be seeing realities far removed from water sports and high-end resorts. Here is her story:

I’ve travelled quite a bit.

From the barrios of Buenos Aires to the beaches of Zanzibar; and a lot in between.

Not India, though. The subcontinent always seemed too exotic for me: the sights, sounds, colours, and people everywhere.

India’s population is over one billion! Let’s do the maths: India has fifty times more people than we do in Australia… but they are squeezed into half the space.

On the train today...

Old super-adorable Asian lady squeezed next to me is on her cartoonishly large Samsung Galaxy s4 furiously scrolling through her Facebook news feed.

A frizzy-haired-but-balding guy in shorts, thongs and a "Bali Bintang' singlet is playing Candy Crush.

His fizzy-haired-but-not-balding kid squeaks "Daddy, daddy" in a British-ie accent - "It's the Operaaaa Houussse - the Hah-baaa bridge!!" as we hurtle across the bridge.

"Sure, honey - that's just great," he grunts annoyingly, quickly returning to gobbling up rows of digital delights.

It was the noodliest of times. It was the rice-iest of times.

In Hanoi there was a bowl of soup, richly aromatic and yummy.

In Khon Kaen there was a racy rice dish - full of spices and flavour.

I've been travelling a lot between Thailand and Vietnam recently, so thought I'd do a little Dickens-inspired comparison.

Lately, I've been confusing my Saawadee Khrups and Xin Chao-s, to say nothing of my Pad Thais and Phos. 

HANOI - The Metropole Hotel's chocolate buffet is a must for all you Cocoa-crazed folk out there. You know who you are - you guys are everywhere.

But I’m a savory kind of guy. So when my partner suggested we head off for an afternoon of chocolaty treats, I wasn’t too eager.

“What about lunch?” I ask sheepishly.

“That is lunch” she replies.

I'm sitting outside a local cafe drinking in Hanoi's bustling street-scape with my eyes and my sugary watermelon juice with my lips.

A cool-looking lanky dude out front slices off coconut tops with his short machete and a fine mist of coconut water sprays me, cooling me down on this blistering hot day.

Is that spray still from the coconuts? I wonder as ever larger globules of liquid begin to descend.

Nup - the dark clouds have gathered above, have opened up and are releasing an insane tropical downpour.