Aims: This presentation describes how New South Wales (NSW) has adopted Australia’s only coordinated statewide approach to implementing patient-reported measures (PRMs) in cancer care. It focuses on how the voices and experiences of people with cancer are being embedded into routine care and explores the policy and implementation strategies required to achieve sustainable uptake at scale.
Methods: The NSW PRMs Program takes a coordinated, statewide approach grounded in policy alignment, governance, digital infrastructure, implementation science, and strong partnerships. While strategic direction and investment were guided at the system level, implementation prioritised local co-design with people affected by cancer, active clinician engagement, and tailored support for services. This approach ensured that both patients and clinicians were partners in shaping how PRMs are used to inform care.
Results: The NSW approach shows that while policy direction can create the foundations for change, meaningful impact depends on how well patient voices are heard and acted upon in practice. Central coordination by the Cancer Institute NSW enabled standardisation, shared infrastructure, and consistent expectations across the state, creating the conditions for large-scale adoption. However, progress relied on bringing clinicians, managers, and local services along the journey through meaningful engagement, trust-building, and responsiveness to local needs. Combining policy levers with bottom-up ownership supported integration into routine workflows and fostered sustained uptake across diverse cancer services.
Conclusions: To “move the dial” on routine PRO collections, health systems require both strong policy leadership and effective local implementation strategies. The NSW experience demonstrates that strong policy leadership can enable scale, but lasting impact comes from empowering clinicians and services to listen to, respond to, and act on what matters most to people with cancer. This partnership approach is essential to delivering more responsive, person-centred cancer care.