I am a health professional
What you’ll find. Evidence-informed tools for work-focused conversations, screening and documentation, fit-note/letter templates, accommodation ideas, and navigation resources that connect health care with employers and insurers.
Why it matters. To enable safe, timely return-to-work and sustained employment through coordinated, person-centred care.
There is good news for working-age individuals who receive a cancer diagnosis.
Approximately 62% return to work within the first year and stay at work for some time. However, cancer survivors may struggle to remain at work and may need accommodations. Not surprisingly, survivors’ rate of return to work and how long they stay varies, depending on the type of cancer, the impact of treatment on each individual, and their workplace environment.
Healthcare professionals play an important role in helping cancer survivors stay at or return to work. They provide:
- care that improves or informs survivors’ functioning
- access to rehabilitation to improve a survivor’s ability to work
- advice regarding current and expected limitations that can impact work
- recommendations for accommodating limitations temporarily or permanently
- self-management information for survivors
Physicians in particular are often critical to the return-to-work process because their recommendations have legal influence. The Healthcare Provider section of the Cancerandwork website provides information and resources on remaining at, returning to or accessing employment after a cancer diagnosis for:
- physicians in family practice, oncology or other specialties
- nurses working with cancer patients, in oncology, occupational health or other specialties
- social workers, psychologists and vocational counsellors
- vocational rehabilitation counsellors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, kinesiologists and other rehabilitation professionals
- community service providers who specialize in oncology, work in general or rehabilitation hospitals, home care agencies or community organizations
- all other professionals who support cancer survivors in remaining at, returning to or accessing employment
Context and conditions that make returning to work easier or harder
Context that makes returning to work following cancer easier
Workplace accommodation: flexibility in hours, duties and job site
Good relationship with their supervisor and colleagues
Support at work and at home
Tailored vocational rehabilitation support during the process
Clear advice from their doctor about limitations and abilities
Context that makes returning to work following cancer harder
Very physically demanding jobs
Fatigue
More severe illness and side effects from treatment
Other health problems or disabilities
Changes in priorities (feelings about the importance of work)
Where would you like to start?
Return to work steps
There are distinct steps to planning to return to work. This section helps guide you through the process.
Cancer’s impact: Symptoms and strategies
Cancer and its treatment affect everyone differently. This section presents some of the main symptoms that can be caused by your cancer and cancer treatments organized by types of symptoms.
Research on return to work
For more information on the research on return to work with a focus on Canada, see Vocational Rehabilitation for Cancer Patients: Part One by Maureen Parkinson, Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor, British Columbia Cancer Center
