The Survivorship Programme is a service for patients who are living with and beyond cancer. The programme is designed to meet the individual needs of the patient and to focus on recovery, health and wellbeing after cancer treatment. We provide a range of support within the community as well as at the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology. Patients’ family members and carers are also welcome to seek support from the Survivorship Team.

We offer one to one assessment, community clinics, long term follow up, telephone support, singing group, walking group, wellbeing course, exercise programme, support group and activities. This service is available to any patient who has completed cancer treatment. It is not a site specific service — everyone is welcome. Patients can self-refer by telephone or ask for a referral from their healthcare professional.

The service is primarily operational Monday to Thursday from 8am until 4pm however we undertake many out of hours activities including a weekly walking group on Monday evenings, singing group Tuesday evenings and Support Group Wednesday evenings.

In 2011 Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust along with Macmillan seconded a nursing team to implement and deliver a “living with and beyond cancer” service to the patients within our geographic are . Whilst the team have successfully integrated a new model of care in relation to the patient’s cancer pathway, the focus has increasingly led towards promoting and maintaining well-being and ultimately improving quality of life.

The ethos of the team is to provide holistic care and well-being to all patients that are “Living with and beyond cancer” regardless of whether the patient is cured, progressive or stable disease.

The team have so far received over 800 patients through their pathway, and whilst able to provide the recommendations put forward by the NCSI (2010) by means of supported self-management, tailored care planning, holistic needs assessment, being responsive to the needs of the patients and coordinate care the team have the clinical skill and knowledge to provide follow up and late effect monitoring with the support of Clinical Oncologists and Haematologists.

Working in collaboration and partnership with other agencies the team are able to provide a wealth of resources and also provide evidence. We have captured valuable data from various aspects of our service which provide evidence on improvements in fatigue, quality of life and patient experience.

The team are looking forward in future developments and how we can integrate our services within the community partnerships. We welcome feedback and opportunity to work alongside other organisations so that we can improve the patient’s journey and experience.

Sarah Guest

• Sarah Guest
• Claire Walker

01482 461091