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I'm Sandra Campbell, I'm Macmillan nurse consultant for cancer and palliative care in Forth Valley.
Often, we underestimate the impact of a diagnosis of cancer, not only in the patient but in
their family and all those around them. And I see it as my role to try and help people
to fully understand trying to get the staff to understand what it must be like. So for
a number of years now I have laid on training in communication skills. I help to deliver
the education but also work on a strategic level to look at where are the gaps and how
do we take things forward.
The patient participation group is looking at empowering patients and improvement in
treatment and post treatment. Sandra identified early in the PPI group that people after treatment
sometimes feel cast adrift, that they still have great need for support and needs for
knowing what to do should they feel there's a recurrence.
We were fortunate enough to receive funding from Macmillan to take forward a pilot project
called the one-to-one project. It provides a seamless service for patients; they link
with CNS teams, GPs and others who are caring for patients around that time post treatment
and then they see patients in their own home, perform a holistic needs assessment and make
appropriate referrals to social services and other agencies. The feedback that we've had
so far is that the patients feel more supported and it's about giving them confidence and
self-management to live with their disease.
I've worked with Sandra a number of years. She's got a real skill in being able to bring
together the key kind of people, the stakeholders that we need to engage with. She is extremely
warm, caring and has got this real character to really engage with people at all levels.
I was involved heavily in the development of the Macmillan long term conditions project,
helping people with the financial strains that they feel. I think there's been over
£10m in benefits over the last 7 years since this service has come into place so it's definitely
a much needed service and has made a real difference to people living with cancer.
The sort of main feeling that people have when Sandra is dealing with them is that they
have someone who is fighting their corner for them and that's so vital because cancer
is such a devastating disease and it's disempowering and it's good to be given power and control
back.