Cancer Information Service (CIS)

A Cancer Information Service (CIS) is a service created to meet the cancer information needs of the public. Although it may be provided alongside or in conjunction with emotional support and counselling services, a CIS is primarily about giving good quality, one to one information about cancer in response to people’s questions.

A CIS can be provided by phone, email, SMS (short message service) text, online 1-2-1 chat or through social media (e.g. Facebook). The most appropriate channels for an individual service will be influenced by its resources, how the populations it aim to serve are most likely to want to access information, and the skills of its CIS staff.

CIS services may be delivered by volunteers, paid employees, health professionals or lay staff. Since the fundamental principle of a CIS is the provision of good quality information, staff delivering the services must be adequately trained and supported and quality assurance measures must be in place to ensure a good quality service is delivered.

A CIS does not give medical advice and does not take the place of a doctor, but helps the user understand cancer and their individual situation.

A CIS may be a standalone service or may be part of a larger organisation with broader responsibilities such as cancer support, research, academia or delivery of care.

An international qualitative study conducted by ICISG concluded that Cancer Information and Support nurses internationally act as expert navigators, educators and compassionate communicators who ‘listen between the lines’ to enable callers to better understand and contextualise their situation and discuss it with their healthcare team and family and friends. Use of the service can result in reduced worry, extend support repertoires and enable use of new knowledge and language as a tool to getting the most from the healthcare team. The positioning of CIS alongside cancer treatment services aids fuller integration of supportive care, benefiting both patients and clinicians. Learn more here.

Start A CIS

Starting a CIS is a great step towards delivering personalized information to cancer patients, their families and friends, healthcare professionals and the general public. By providing accurate and up to date information freely and in confidence, a supportive and high quality cancer service is delivered to those affected by cancer.   

Starting a CIS is a challenging but exciting venture. We highly recommend using the Assessment Tool as it will help you conduct a basic assessment of the needs and proposed structure. The CIS Toolbox will also help guide your decisions about how you organize and manage your service.

ICISG member organisations follow core values and have operating guidelines. As part of your assessment, you will need to reflect on these and ensure your organization is able to comply.