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Canrefer is designed to help general practitioners (GP) refer people with a suspected cancer to a specialist on a multidisciplinary cancer care team.

The directory also assists people with cancer, their families and carers, to find a cancer specialist, multidisciplinary cancer care team or a treatment centre. A referral letter from a GP is required to see a specialist.

The directory also lists:

• cancer-specific multidisciplinary cancer care teams
• public and private hospitals 
• cancer centres
• chemotherapy centres
• radiotherapy centres
• haematology units
• youth cancer services
• genetic cancer services.

Canrefer is administered by the Cancer Institute NSW.

Canrefer lists cancer specialists, multidisciplinary cancer care teams and treatment centres throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia.

Specialists and treatment centres near the state borders of Queensland, South Australia and Victoria have also been included in this directory as these specialists and cancer centres can be the most appropriate service for some NSW residents.

1. From the home page, enter a type of cancer and set your location. For example, type in lung cancer at Camperdown.
2. Hit the find button.
3. On the next page, the important introduction at the top tells you which type of specialist a person should be referred to first for an initial cancer diagnosis.
4. Further down, you will find results for specialists, hospitals and cancer centre and multidisciplinary cancer care teams. The results are ordered closest to your search location. Distances are calculated from the centre of the selected postcode in a direct line (not distance by road). They are intended to provide an indication of relative distances.

We welcome links from your site to Canrefer. If you plan to create a link, please follow these guidelines:

1. Links must be to the home page or other high level page. Links to profile pages are permitted.
2. Logos, emblems and trademarks of the NSW Government and/or Cancer Institute NSW must not be used for web linking purposes.
3. The website should be opened in a new window and not within a frame of your own branding.
4. You must not use the link to provide, or in any way imply, endorsement of your organisation, services or products by the NSW Government and/or Cancer Institute NSW.
5. You must not pass off content from this website as your own. This includes copying or re-using parts of the website (see Copyright and Disclaimer).

A specialist can be listed on Canrefer if they:

• manage the day-to-day care of people with cancer at the initial diagnosis and treatment stage
• are an active member of a multidisciplinary cancer care team (MDT), attending at least 75% of meetings (MDT membership is verified every 6 months)
• present cases at the MDT and participate in discussion and consensus decision making (as verified by the chair of the MDT)
• are based in NSW or ACT (or provide care to residents of NSW).

If you are a specialist who meets these criteria, please request a listing through the contact Canrefer form.

Note: Canrefer lists specialists that a GP would refer to for the initial diagnosis and treatment of cancer. For this reason, specialists such as radiologists, pathologists and nuclear medicine specialists are not listed on Canrefer.

To find palliative care services, a directory is available on the Palliative Care Australia website.

All the specialists listed on Canrefer are active members of a multidisciplinary cancer care team (MDT). It is recommended that people with a suspected cancer diagnosis be referred to a specialist who is an active member of a multidisciplinary cancer care team.

For an initial cancer diagnosis, you can find the recommended type of specialist identified in the search results page. The recommended specialist is referenced from the optimal care pathways, which are nationally endorsed cancer pathways to promote best practice cancer care for specific cancer types.

There are recommended hospitals for referral where complex cancer surgery may be required. A general practitioner (GP) should refer their patient to a specialist to one of these hospitals. Why these hospitals have been selected is explained on Optimising Cancer Care.

Every six months, information about each specialist's multidisciplinary cancer care team membership and cancer service listing is validated and updated. Every 12 months, information about the specialists' practice locations is validated and updated.

A "last updated" date is published in the footer of each profile page.

If you find any information that needs updating, please use the "Let us know" button at the bottom of each profile page or contact Canrefer.

Canrefer lists public and private medical services that provide treatment for cancer. They must be based in New South Wales or the Australian Capital Territory (or provide treatment to residents of NSW) and be one of the following:

• Hospitals that perform cancer surgery and where specialists regularly present patients at multidisciplinary cancer care team meetings.
• Cancer centres
• Chemotherapy units, which may also be known as oncology day centres
• Haematology units that treat patients with blood cancers
• Radiation oncology units, may also be known as radiotherapy units
• Youth cancer services for ages 15 to 24 years old
• Genetic cancer services for genetic testing and genetic counselling

If you manage a hospital or cancer service and would like to be listed in this directory, please contact Canrefer.

A palliative care service directory can be found on the Palliative Care Australia website.

For people who require complex surgery, it is better to have the procedure at a hospital that performs these often, and to have their care overseen by a team of cancer specialists who are experienced in this surgery – a multidisciplinary cancer care team.

The Cancer Institute NSW is using the latest evidence to inform how, when and where people receive cancer treatment. The management of complex cancer requires a team of health care professionals with experience in that cancer (including surgery) and the availability of adequate supportive care following surgery. In NSW, there are recommended hospitals for:

• adrenocortical cancer
• bladder cancer
• complex head and neck
• lung cancer
• neuroendocrine cancer
• oesophageal and gastric cancers
• ovarian cancer
• pancreatic, bile duct and primary liver cancers
• penile cancer
• rectal cancer
• sarcoma (adult).

Patients with a suspected or proven cancer diagnosis for one of these cancer types, should be referred to a specialist who is a member of a multidisciplinary cancer care team and practices at one of the recommended hospitals. Detailed information about recommended hospitals in NSW can be found on the Optimising cancer care webpage.

Every six months, information about each cancer service is validated and updated.

A "last updated" date is published in the footer of each profile page.

If you find any information that needs updating, please use the "Let us know" button at the bottom of each profile page or contact Canrefer.

A multidisciplinary cancer care team (MDT) is a team of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who meet regularly to plan treatment for people with newly diagnosed cancer and to review the treatment plans of existing patients during or after their treatment.

For the purposes of Canrefer, we list specialists involved in the initial diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including surgeons, medical oncologists, haematologists and radiation oncologists, as well as others.

At meetings, team members consider diagnostic and staging information, treatment options, and the circumstances and preferences of the person with cancer. They then develop and implement an individualised treatment plan with agreement of the person diagnosed.

Multidisciplinary cancer care teams are widely acknowledged as best practice in clinical cancer care. They improve clinical outcomes, care coordination and may improve survival.[1] Cancer specialists can be a member of one or many multidisciplinary cancer care teams.