Cancer patients find it is good to talk

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By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

They gave Mary vital support

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, their thoughts often quickly turn to how they can beat the disease.

Many are so stunned by the diagnosis and treatment however that they fail to ask practical questions about how the cancer might affect their day-to-day lives and what they should be doing to protect their health.

After treatment, many might find their next follow-up appointment could be as far away as six months or a year, leaving some patients feeling isolated and alone.

Now a 12 month pilot, at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London is offering a telephone support service, where breast and prostate cancer patients at the hospital are offered the chance to have a weekly chat with nurses.

Pilot scheme

When Mary Naguib, 60, was diagnosed with breast cancer she needed a lumpectomy and then a course of radiotherapy and she said she had found the support offered invaluable.

"I did have trouble understanding what had happened to me and how it would affect me," she said.

I had loads of questions, financial being the biggest one of all Coral Cooper

"A little bit of you feels ashamed that you have had cancer, like the plague, but the nurse made me feel quite positive and I could talk to her about my innermost thoughts that I could not talk to my family about or my friends.

"Normally she talked to me for about half an hour, but I never felt under pressure to stop talking.

"If I need to talk to her she is always there for me.

"She is such a support to me. A couple of times I was just crying down the phone to her and she was lovely," she said.

Civil servant Mary said she had been given advice on reducing her work-load until feeling better. Staff also sent her literature to help better understand her condition.

Help about benefits

Coral Cooper, aged 47, had just nursed her father through terminal cancer when she discovered that she had breast cancer.

She had a large tumour and needed chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a partial mastectomy, but says after treatment that she had been left with a number of practical concerns.

"I had loads of questions, especially about finances. I wanted to know what benefits I was entitled to, how I could get fares to and from the hospital and how could I pay my gas and electric?

"I did not get told what foods were good to eat. It was only when I got the support calls that I got advice.

"Before talking to them I had never realised how good beetroot could be for you!

"I definitely eat more healthily now and always have vegetables with every meal."

Nancy Evans, who is overseeing the service, said it was filling a gap.

"When first diagnosed and going through treatment, patients' whole lives become a variety of hospital appointments and being supported and seen by healthcare professionals.

"Then, all of a sudden, between the end of that initial treatment and the start of the follow-up care, they might not see anybody for two to three months.

The school has enrolled 200 patients

"It is those gaps in time that we are trying to fill, because obviously at that time people can feel quite isolated and it is when questions arise.

"Rather than waiting for there to be a problem we are taking a more proactive approach and ringing them on a regular basis to give them the time and security to talk about any issues or any fears that they might have."

Since going live in May the service has talked to 200 breast and prostate patients and there are hopes that other hospitals across London might adopt similar schemes.

Martin Ledwick, head of the Cancer Research UK nurse team, said it was good to see services like this being offered.

"At Cancer Research UK our team of telephone information nurses responds to more than 10,000 enquiries a year.

"One of the advantages of our service is that it is anonymous and confidential so people can ask us questions about thing which they might be embarrassed to discuss with someone they know. We talk to relatives and friends of cancer patients too."