Development work is under way on our 'flagship' scheme to provide cancer patients in UK hospitals with a one-to-one Partner to support them from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond.
A diagnosis of cancer typically throws a person into a totally unfamiliar and very stressful situation filled with unanswered questions. Simply finding out where to look for answers can be beyond someone who is seriously unwell, psychologically and spiritually challenged by their critical situation, and facing an extremely uncertain future. Our Patient Partners will be there to help find the answers they desperately need and to support them through the immense difficulties they are likely to face.
They will help them regain control of their fragmented situation through development of their own personalised integrated treatment plan, a plan built from their own choices and which embraces the best of Complementary and Alternative Medicine to improve their quality of life and treatment outcome.
Heading up the development and and piloting of the scheme are Maggie Holleran and Clare McLusky.
Maggie Holleran has more than 11 years' experience in Primary Care, running a large inner city NHS GP Practice with 10,000 patients. She has extensive experience of managi ng and coaching clinical/admin teams, HR, setting up and running patient participation groups and organising training events. She trained in Personnel Management, Neuro Linguistic Programming, counselling and, most recently qualified as a Mentor for cancer patients at Dr Rosy Daniel's Health Creation organisation. She has personal family experience of coping with cancer and is passionate about raising awareness of integrated medical care and making alternative options available to patients and their families.
Clare McLusky is a qualified occupational therapist with extensive NHS experience and is also a Health Creation Mentor. She is experienced in setting up and running community projects and developing networks within the statutory and voluntary sector. She also has personal experience of cancer.
"I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of helping individuals regain a sense of control over what is happening to them when faced with the shock of a cancer diagnosis frequently compounded by the sense of urgency to commence conventional treatment. I believe it is vital to empower individuals by giving them the time and support they need to digest what has happened and the information to make informed choices about what is best for them and their families. Enabling individuals to begin a course of action that they believe in, with the right support in place, is a very positive start to any treatment."
It is early days for the scheme which is scheduled to take a year to develop and pilot. This process has been made possible through a magnificent grant from Charlotte Grobien's organisation, Give It Away.
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