Macmillan Cancer Support has funded five new roles which will enhance the cancer care and support already offered to local people at Doncaster Hospital. Working with partners, The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Cancer Alliance, who have funded two of the roles, and Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, who have funded one of the roles.
Doncaster Hospital now has eight new Trainee Associate Practitioners joining their cancer services in the Breast, Colorectal, Urology, Haematology, Gynaecology, Upper GI, Head and Neck and Lung cancer teams. The new roles work with patients to access support that may not need clinical nurse specialist input.
The Macmillan Trainee Associate Practitioners support the emotional, financial and psychological impacts of a cancer diagnosis, as well as helping patients and their loved ones navigate the health and social care system.
The roles have the added advantage of freeing up the specialist nurse’s time, allowing them to concentrate on the more clinically complex patients.
Dinah Coggon, is the Macmillan Partnership Quality Lead for South Yorkshire, she explains:
“These new roles provide a valuable addition to the support people diagnosed with cancer receive in Doncaster.
“Although the issues they help with are not clinical they can be a priority to that person, for example signposting someone to support with benefits if they are unable to work because of their diagnosis.
“They will also help people to access support available within their local area.
“At Macmillan we understand that roles like this take away additional stress from people when they’re already having to come to terms with a devastating diagnosis of cancer.”
Macmillan Cancer Support has invested over £200,000 in the new roles over 2 years. Each Macmillan professional will also be able to apply for a £1000 Macmillan learning and development grant to support their professional development. The charity provides ongoing support to the professionals who are able to access development grants, online courses and Macmillan’s support materials for people affected by cancer.
The roles will work with and compliment the support offered by Macmillan Professionals across Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, as well as the support offered at the Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service which opened in January 2019 and is based in the outpatients department of the hospital.
This work is part of the Macmillan Living With And Beyond Cancer Programme working collaboratively to improve cancer care and support across South and Mid Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Derbyshire.