The goal of cancer control is to reduce the number of people diagnosed with cancer and to ensure that patients receive high quality care at every step in their care. That means we have to attend to the entire disease pathway for each cancer beginning with prevention through to palliative care.

Cancer Care Ontario’s plan – The Ontario Cancer Plan 2008-2011 – has six goals that span the entire disease:

1. Reduce the incidence of cancer
2. Reduce the impact of cancer through effective screening and earlier detection
3. Ensure timely access to effective diagnosis and high-quality cancer care
4. Improve the patient experience along every step of the cancer journey
5. Improve the performance of Ontario’s cancer system
6. Strengthen Ontario’s ability to translate cancer research into improvements in cancer services and control

Our Programs are also organized to attend to the different phases of cancer.

We are taking a new approach to planning and quality improvement, called Disease Pathway Management. This approach will look at the cancer system's performance across the cancer journey – from prevention to recovery and end-of-life care – for different types of cancers.

• Disease Pathway Management