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Chemotherapy nurses hit
the road to give patients their treatment in the comfort of their own home
HIGHLY-trained nurses from The
Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, one of the UK's largest networked cancer
centres, are taking its world class chemotherapy service to patients' homes.
Following the success of a pilot scheme, the cancer centre is set to deliver
more cancer treatments at patients' homes as it expands its pioneering 'Cancer
Treatment at Home' service to Liverpool patients on Monday, 28 September
2015.
The new service was first piloted on suitable Wirral patients receiving
Herceptin (Trastuzumab) treatment (a medicine given for the treatment of
Breast Cancer).
As part of this service, a highly trained specialist chemotherapy nurse from
the cancer centre delivers cancer treatments to patients, in the comfort of
their own home. This service is part of the Clatterbridge in the Community
programme; a chemotherapy service which offers specialist treatment away
from a hospital setting.
Following its success the 'Cancer Treatment at Home' service has
already been rolled out to suitable patients around Halton and Chester and
on 28 September will be available to suitable Liverpool patients.
A survey was carried out in May/June 2015 of 37 patients who had received
their chemotherapy treatment at home and the feedback was exemplary. 100% of
patient said they were very satisfied with the service and would recommend
home treatment to others and 100% agreed that they were well looked after,
had confidence in the nurse's ability and felt safe receiving treatment at
home.
Joan Spencer, General Manager for Chemotherapy services at The Clatterbridge
Cancer Centre said:- "We want to make our patients treatment journey
as smooth as possible and one way of achieving this is by being able to
offer suitable patients the option to have their treatment in the comfort of
their own home. For some patients it can be a struggle and extra stress
travelling to our clinics for treatment; we want to avoid this where
possible and offer alternatives.
The project is still in the early phases so we currently only offer this
service to suitable patients receiving Herceptin (trastuzumab) treatment. In
the future we are looking at offering this service to patients receiving
different types of chemotherapy."
The Clatterbridge in the Community programme has been developed in
partnership with PharmaC – The Clatterbridge Pharmacy Ltd, an innovative and
successful service introduced by the Trust in December 2013 to provide
on site dispensing services to the Centre's patients.
One patient who is benefitting from the new service is 76 year old Lilian
Kenrick from Heswall. Lilian was visiting the centre for her chemotherapy
treatment but for the last 6 months our specialist nurses have been treating
her in the comfort of her own home.
She said:- "If you are diagnosed with cancer you will travel anywhere
to get the best treatment but to be offered a one 2 one service in your own
home is truly fantastic. The service I have received is second to none;
having a dedicated specialist in your home to give you your treatment and
answer any questions or just have a chat makes a real difference. I would
certainly recommend the service and I believe it's definitely the way to
go."
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre treats more than 43,000 outpatient
chemotherapy treatments every year. More than 50% of these are delivered at
our nurse-led clinics held in 8 district hospitals across Merseyside and
Cheshire, making this one of the most comprehensive networks of chemotherapy
clinics in the UK. |
