You may have many questions about what happens following childhood cancer, and how your diagnosis and treatment may affect your’s and your child’s future. You may also have questions about what follow-up care is and if your child will need it.
End of treatment and short-term follow up
Finishing treatment can be a time of mixed emotions, with feelings of relief and happiness are mixed with uncertainty and worry. A detailed plan of the care a patient can expect from their follow-up team can help lessen some of these worries. When a child has finished treatment, the treating team should provide:
an end of treatment summary which outlines all the different treatments received including the names of any chemotherapy drugs used, surgical procedures undertaken and radiotherapy received. Keep this somewhere safe for easy access if you ever need to know the details of your child’s treatment in the future.
a care plan, which should be shared with your GP and shared care consultant, outlining:
frequency of follow-up visits and where they will be;
what blood tests, x rays or scans are needed to ensure the original cancer has not come back and how often these will be performed;
possible side effects of treatment (late effects) and what tests are needed to monitor these;
additional support that may be required such as education, finances or psychological concerns.
a key worker who will be allocated to support young people through the early years off treatment.
It is important to remember that although your child’s cancer experience will always be a part of your child, it doesn’t need to define them.
Long-term follow up
Following successful childhood cancer treatment, it is important that you and your child are offered the opportunity to review previous treatment in a specialist long-term follow-up clinic. As time goes on from when the treatment ends, the emphasis of follow-up appointments changes from checking the cancer hasn’t come back to looking for any late effects of treatment. These clinics also provide you with an opportunity to learn about and plan the follow-up care required. At a point along this pathway (one which will vary between hospitals), a patient’s care will be transferred to the late effects multidisciplinary team (MDT).
A late effects MDT consists of a team of specialists trained to deal with longer term issues that can arise following cancer treatment and the team will have core members consisting of:
a consultant paediatric oncologist specialising in the late effects of treatment;
a specialist late effects nurse;
a endocrinologist;
a team coordinator.
In addition, the late effects team should have access to allied health professionals, psychological services, fertility specialists and an adult oncologist to support patients as and when required.
Important Notice
This page is intended to back up the information you get from the hospital, not to replace medical advice from a consultant.
Information last reviewed on 14th January 2026.
Based on information originally produced by Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), Accessed 2022.
