What breast cancer patients want from a world class radiotherapy service
A report outlining patients’ experiences of radiotherapy services contains key recommendations by patients for the improvement of radiotherapy services. They include:
-
Greater emphasis on providing more ‘patient centred care’ so that the whole person is treated, not just the disease;
-
Improved communication about all aspects of treatment, including waiting times and how to cope with side effects;
-
Improved psychological and emotional support before, during and after treatment;
-
Increased resources – both more staff and more modern machines;
-
Significantly reduced delays and adherence to national guidelines and standards of clinical excellence;
-
Improved accessibility to the service, including greater consideration given to how people can be supported in travel arrangements to appointments, more local venues for treatment and expansion of the flexibility in appointment times.
In a covering letter to the report, the authors - Joanna Dugher, Campaigns and Advocacy Network Manager for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and Anna Wood, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Breast Cancer Care - stress “that while many of the women consulted had experienced some problems and difficulties with the service, the majority told us that they recognised that staff work under great pressures and did their best in difficult circumstances.”
A series of focus groups and telephone interviews were held to gather the experiences of people who had used radiotherapy services. “It provides a useful snapshot of opinions and experience from breast cancer patients that could be used to inform decisions about what changes need to be made to improve the service,” the authors say.
Click here to download the report.
Back | Top
|
