Surviving Cancer - Living Life: New Telephone Support Service For Breast And Prostate Cancer Survivors , UK

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Prostate / Prostate Cancer;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 23 May 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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A new service was launched by Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust for people recovering from breast and prostate cancer. From today, people who receive any part of their breast and prostate cancer treatment at the Trust will be offered a new, free service that provides personalised advice and information from specially trained healthcare professionals at a time and place of the person's own choosing.

Surviving Cancer - Living Life is a new telephone-based support service provided by the Trust staffed through a team of care managers who are experienced cancer nurses. This service aims to help people in their transition from being a cancer patient to being a cancer "survivor".

Each person eligible for this service will be allocated a dedicated care manager who will call at pre-arranged times to provide advice, support and encouragement on specific aspects of their treatment programme and any other health-related issues.

GPs and other healthcare professionals can also encourage people to call their care manager if they need extra support or advice. This is in line with the Department of Health's recently published "Cancer Reform Strategy" which promotes a more holistic approach to cancer care and survivorship.

Surviving Cancer - Living Life aims to enhance the quality of life of cancer survivors, their families and carers by improving access to appropriate information and ongoing support, helping them to lead the life they want and take control of their health. It has been developed through a partnership between the Trust and Pfizer Health Solutions with support from Guy's and St Thomas' Charity. Pfizer Health Solutions has built on its experience of caring for individuals with long-term conditions in the UK and has applied its model to these areas of cancer in this innovative service.

If successful it is hoped the service would be commissioned for other cancer types and the model commissioned by other health economies in the UK.

With Surviving Cancer - Living Life, people will be helped to:

- understand their own health issues and the impact of these on their lives (with the service providing full educational support on their individual condition)

- acquire the skills and knowledge to facilitate any lifestyle changes needed in order to address their health needs and prevent additional health complications (e.g. help with diet, exercise and psychological wellbeing)

- follow treatment programmes correctly as prescribed by their doctor or specialist

- make informed choices about their health and lifestyle

- understand how to engage with and use NHS or other local services more effectively (e.g. knowing what regular checks are needed and when to ask for them).

Professor Arnie Purushotham, Breast Cancer Consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' and Director of the Integrated Cancer Centre,* said: "Surviving Cancer - Living Life is an important step forward in giving our patients greater control over their health and well-being. It will encourage and empower them to manage their own recovery and, as much as possible, help them return to leading a normal life.

"This is a ground-breaking partnership and a practical example of how NHS bodies can work with private organisations with the right expertise, to provide flexible new services tailored to individual lifestyles and circumstances and delivering personalised care."

Evidence shows that when people with long-term conditions are empowered to manage their own health better, their overall health, quality of life, life expectancy and satisfaction levels all improve.

Alongside the benefits to individuals and their families, improved self-care brings significant benefits to clinicians, healthcare professionals and the NHS, helping to address the growing impact that managing long term medical conditions has on healthcare services and resources.

Dr Iain McNeil, Medical Director of UK Pfizer Health Solutions said: "Cancer survivorship is a key theme in the Government's recently published Cancer Reform Strategy). Surviving Cancer - Living Life is in line with the strategy's National Cancer Survivorship Initiative which recognises the value of educating and empowering patients via a range of approaches - including the option of telephone-based support services - to help them manage their own condition."

Notes

Surviving Cancer - Living Life service is currently available to any person with breast or prostate cancer who has received any part of their treatment at Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation NHS Trust irrespective of where they live in the UK. It is expected that approximately 1,000 people who receive their breast or prostate cancer care at the Trust each year will benefit from this service.

Under the programme, the full time care managers will call individuals at pre-arranged times, as often as is needed for each person, to provide advice, help and encouragement or prompt them on specific aspects of their treatment programme. GPs and healthcare professionals can also encourage people to call their Care Manager if they need additional support and advice, on those occasions when a visit to the GP or specialist is not essential.

Care managers will be supported by Pfizer Health Solutions's disease management software platform, which assists in creating and delivering individual, tailored care plans for each person in line with national and local clinical guidelines and protocols.

A pilot project, Surviving Cancer - Living Life will run for one year. If the project is successful in delivering its objectives it is hoped that the Trust will be able to continue to run the service and/or expand it to other tumour types or conditions.

It is estimated that approximately 1.2 million people in the UK are currently diagnosed with cancer and are living with their condition and its associated problems, challenges and complications . Although successes have been evident in relation to screening, detection, improved access to diagnostics and the creation of specialist multidisciplinary teams, the survivorship phase of care has not yet achieved such recognition nor have equivalent parallel advances been demonstrated.

The Integrated Cancer Centre is a partnership between Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hopsital NHS Foundation Trust, King's College London and the South East London Cancer Network. Together they have an ambitious vision to improve cancer services, combining first class clinical care with groundbreaking research. The aim is to be one of the very best centres for the delivery of cancer care in the world.

UK Pfizer Health Solutions is a group within Pfizer Limited that operates independently of the medicines business. Pfizer Health Solutions believes that self-care increases individuals' abilities to manage their long-term conditions because when individuals are more educated, involved and empowered they interact more effectively with their healthcare providers and embrace those lifestyle behaviours that promote healthier outcomes. Pfizer Health Solutions supports the future of the NHS and recognises that self-care is vital for an effective, efficient and reliable health service. Pfizer Health Solutions has been successfully delivering care in the NHS for two years and has commissions to provide Care Management support for over 10,000 individuals from a number of PCTs in the West Midlands. Pfizer Health Solutions has twelve years experience of delivering disease management solutions to the US, and partnerships have been made with a range of health insurers, managed care organisations and public providers.

Guy's and St Thomas' provides around ¾ million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 9,000 staff. The Trust works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King's College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research. Website: http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk

Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts and our academic partner King's College London are working together to create the UK's largest Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC). The AHSC will bring together the widest range of clinical and research expertise in the UK - strengths that will be used to drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity. For further information visit http://www.londonsahsc.org

Guy's and St Thomas' Charity is the largest NHS-related Charity in the UK. It provides funding to support health services in Lambeth and Southwark and to benefit the wider NHS. For more information contact Kate Dawson, Head of Communications on Tel: 020 7 188 1218 or out of hours mobile: 0772 2119 157 or email: kate.dawson@gsttcharity.org.uk.

Guy's and St Thomas' Charity

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