How a community-based service is supporting patients to live with and beyond cancer

Abstract

AbstractToday, in the UK, more people are surviving cancer for longer. This has physical, social, emotional and financial consequences for patients and their carers. Governments across the four UK home countries recognise that much more needs to be done in providing support to patients not just around the time of diagnosis and when the end of life is approaching, but after their treatment has finished and when the patient is well and living either with or beyond cancer. Cancer is just as much a social care concern as it is a health priority, with health and social care commissioners encouraged by government to be more 'joined up' in catering for local needs. The economic downturn requires every available route to be explored to ensure that patients and their carers are given the support they are entitled to expect. Cross-sector working involving the third and independent sectors opens the door to innovation and new ways of working. This paper briefly reviews the challenge faced by health and social care c...