Survivorship care plans and treatment summaries
A survivorship care plan is the document that tells you and every future doctor exactly what you had and what happens next. What should be in one, and how to get it if it is not offered.
5 min read · Part of After Treatment
Written by The LifeAfterward editorial team from the sources listed at the end of this page.
Not individually reviewed by a clinician. This page is written from published clinical guidance, listed in full at the end, and is general information rather than medical advice — your own team knows your case. See our editorial standards.
Last checked against its sources · Last updated · Next check due
In short
- A survivorship care plan has two halves: a summary of the treatment you had, and a plan for what happens next.
- It exists because cancer follow-up is handed between specialists, family doctors and screening programmes, and things fall through the gaps.
- You are entitled to a copy of your own records. If no plan is offered, you can assemble the essentials yourself.
- Keep it somewhere you can find it in ten years — the doses and fields you had determine which late effects are worth watching for.
What this means
A care plan is not a formality. Anthracycline chemotherapy affects the heart in a dose-dependent way; radiotherapy affects the tissue in the field it treated; some drugs affect fertility, hearing, nerves or bones. A doctor who sees you in 2040 cannot make good decisions without knowing which of these applies to you — and human memory for drug names and doses is poor.
What a good care plan contains
Part one — the treatment summary
- Diagnosis: cancer type, subtype, grade, stage, and any relevant biomarkers (for example hormone receptor or HER2 status, molecular markers).
- Surgery: what was done, when, and by whom.
- Chemotherapy or other drug therapy: the exact drug names, number of cycles, and cumulative doses where relevant.
- Radiotherapy: the site treated, total dose, number of fractions and dates.
- Any other treatment: immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, stem cell transplant, clinical trial details.
- Significant complications or toxicities during treatment.
Part two — the plan
- The follow-up schedule: appointments, scans, blood tests, and who arranges each.
- Ongoing medication, how long for, and when it is reviewed.
- The late effects most relevant to your treatment, and any monitoring they need (for example heart function, bone density, thyroid tests).
- Symptoms to report urgently.
- Screening and general health care that still applies to you.
- Named contacts, with phone numbers, for the specialist team and for out of hours.
- Support available: psychological, physiotherapy, lymphoedema, dietetics, fertility, financial.
The words used, in plain English
- Survivorship care plan
- A written document covering what treatment you had and what happens next. Sometimes called an end-of-treatment summary or transition plan.
- Cumulative dose
- The total amount of a drug you received across all cycles. It matters for drugs whose long-term effects depend on the total, such as anthracyclines and the heart.
- Fraction
- One session of radiotherapy. A course is described as a total dose divided into a number of fractions.
- Surveillance
- The programme of scans, tests and appointments used to check for recurrence after treatment.
- Shared care
- Follow-up split between the hospital team and your family doctor, with agreed responsibilities for each.
- Discharge
- The point at which routine hospital follow-up ends. It should come with a written plan for what happens afterwards, and a route back in if something changes.
If you are not offered one
Provision varies enormously between countries and hospitals. Care plans have been recommended internationally since the Institute of Medicine's 2006 report on the gap after treatment, but many services still do not produce them routinely. If yours does not, you can assemble the essentials in an afternoon.
- Ask the specialist nurse or clinic for an end-of-treatment summary. Many teams will write one if asked, even if it is not standard.
- Ask for copies of your clinic letters, pathology report and discharge summaries. In most jurisdictions you have a legal right of access to your own health records.
- Ask the oncology pharmacy or day unit for the chemotherapy regimen name and cumulative doses.
- Ask the radiotherapy department for the site, total dose and number of fractions.
- Write down the follow-up plan as your team describes it, and read it back to check you have it right.
- Keep it all in one place, with a copy your family can find.
Using it afterwards
- Give a copy to your family doctor and ask for it to be added to your record.
- Take it to any new doctor, including for things unrelated to cancer — it changes what tests they order and which drugs they avoid.
- Re-read the late effects section once a year. It tells you which of the symptoms in long-term effects actually apply to you.
- Update it when something changes: a new medication, a discharge from follow-up, a new specialist.
What to ask your healthcare team
- Can I have a written treatment summary and follow-up plan?
- What were the exact drugs and cumulative doses I received?
- What area was treated with radiotherapy, at what total dose?
- Which late effects should I and my family doctor watch for, and do any need routine monitoring?
- Who is responsible for each part of my follow-up — you, my family doctor, or a screening programme?
- How do I get back to you quickly if something changes after I am discharged?
Save questions to My Journey so you have them in the room, or use a ready-made list.
When to seek medical advice
Contact your healthcare team if you have:
- Any symptom listed as urgent in your own care plan.
- Confusion about who is responsible for a test or appointment — an unclaimed test is one nobody books.
- A new doctor proposing treatment without knowing your cancer history.
If you are worried and unsure, contact your team anyway — they would far rather hear from you unnecessarily than late. What to do in an emergency.
Common questions
What is a survivorship care plan?
A written document with two parts: a summary of the cancer and the treatment you had, and a plan for follow-up, monitoring, late effects to watch for and who to contact. It is meant to be shared with your family doctor and any future clinician.
Can I get a copy of my cancer treatment records?
In most countries you have a legal right to access your own health records, including clinic letters, pathology reports and treatment details. Ask the hospital records department or your specialist nurse how to request them; there is usually a simple form.
Sources
This page was written from the guidance below and checked against it on . Links are re-checked at each review — see our editorial standards.
- Institute of Medicine (US) (2006). From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition
- National Cancer Institute (US). Follow-up medical care after cancer treatment
- ASCO (Cancer.Net). Survivorship
- American Society of Clinical Oncology. Survivorship clinical practice guidelines
- American Cancer Society. Survivorship: during and after treatment