ASCO, COSA, ECO Unite to Protect Cancer Care Workforce

Joint statement includes principles for healthy workplace cultures

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA), and European Cancer Organisation (ECO) are joining forces to protect the oncology workforce and ease the rising levels of clinician burnout.

In a joint statement published on 10 September 2025, in The Lancet Oncology, the three organisations issued a unified call to action to address global health workforce shortages and shared four principles for creating and sustaining healthy workplace cultures in cancer care and research.

“With each passing year, the strain on healthcare workers around the world grows more severe,” said Prof. Csaba Dégi, ECO president and co-senior author of the paper. “The result? More and more of these dedicated men and women are being pushed to the brink and leaving the profession, creating an ever more difficult situation for the patients they serve –  especially for cancer patients who often depend on long-term, life-saving care. We cannot wait. The time to act is now. Together, we must do far more to support healthcare professionals, giving them the necessary tools and conditions they need to confront daily challenges and introducing lasting improvements to their places of work.”

Co-author Ishwaria M. Subbiah, MD, and chair-elect of ASCO's Health Services Research Committee,  said: "The link between clinician well-being and patient care is undeniable. An unhealthy work environment doesn't just harm clinicians—it directly compromises patient outcomes. Mounting system-level stressors render day-to-day work unsustainable, leaving physicians emotionally depleted and detached, with diminished satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. This is burnout, and it's particularly alarming in oncology—a field built on delivering compassionate, comprehensive cancer care.”

Experts predict a global health workforce shortfall of 11 million by 2030. To mitigate the impending shortage, the statement establishes a framework for improving the work life of clinicians, which is now seen as the fourth pillar in the expanded health care quality framework, alongside enhancing patient experience, improving population health, and reducing costs.

The collaboration builds upon foundational work from each organisation, including ASCO’s strategic goal to foster a sustainable work environment, ECO’s pan-European workforce campaign, and COSA’s innovative “System Lasagne Model” for healthy workplace cultures.

The statement outlines four interconnected principles for health systems around the world to adopt:

1. Commit to Healthy Workplace Cultures: Embed well-being into your organization's mission and strategic plans by setting reasonable workloads and tracking wellness metrics at the highest levels.

2. Promote Team-Based Cultures: Foster high-performing, multidisciplinary teams to reduce stress and improve both employee satisfaction and patient care.

3. Involve All Team Members in Designing Solutions: Engage clinical teams in identifying problems and co-designing solutions to ensure interventions are effective and empower staff.

4. Assess, Monitor, and Evaluate Progress: Use regular assessments and surveys to measure team function and individual well-being, holding leadership accountable for continuous improvement.

The organisations urge health care institutions to begin operationalizing these principles through concrete, measurable steps.

Read the full statement in The Lancet Oncology.