We have launched a video to increase awareness of cancer rehabilitation for both patients and professionals. The video details what cancer rehabilitation is, who can benefit from cancer rehabilitation and how to find out more information. It also features patients who explain in their own words, how cancer rehabilitation has helped them through their cancer journey.
Cancer rehabilitation refers to a range of interventions, treatments and services aimed at addressing the physical, emotional and psychological effects that start at diagnosis and continue through and beyond treatment. It plays a vital role in the care of people living with and beyond cancer through supporting individuals to build, maintain or restore physical and emotional wellbeing and empowering them to self-manage some of their symptoms, improving overall quality of life.
Cancer rehabilitation can involve a wide range of allied healthcare professionals such as dietitians, lymphoedema practitioners, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists. These professionals work closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team to deliver specialist intervention that is individualised to a patient’s needs, based on the challenges they face. Cancer rehabilitation can take place at any point of the pathway, from diagnosis, where prehabilitation or ‘prehab’ helps patients prepare for treatment all the way through to the period beyond treatment or end of life care. It can take place in a hospital or community setting and at home.
Understanding the barriers to accessing cancer rehabilitation services
Research led by our Cancer Rehabilitation Ambassador set out to understand the landscape of cancer rehabilitation in South East London with the aim of improving access and quality of cancer rehabilitation for patients. Through conducting questionnaires and interviews the project team were able to identify barriers and set out recommendations to overcome these and optimise opportunities to access rehabilitation.
A key finding from the research was that there was a poor understanding of the scope and breadth of cancer rehabilitation across both healthcare professional and patients.
Healthcare professionals who are not cancer rehabilitation specialists do not always understand the range and extent of support available to patients through cancer rehabilitation. This can lead to under referral into services and patients not accessing the support available to them.
Additionally, focus group work found that many patients do not recognise or understand the term ‘cancer rehabilitation’. Despite experiencing symptoms that could have been supported by cancer rehabilitation such as fatigue, participants felt that they were not always aware of the support available. Participants that did receive intervention, for example group classes for weight management and fatigue, did not recognise this as rehabilitation.
Patients in the focus group felt that healthcare professionals should actively seek to help them access services and also highlighted the importance of raising awareness of cancer rehabilitation amongst patients, carers and family members. It was felt this would support people with cancer to take control of their individual journey and feel empowered to seek timely support for their symptoms.
As a result of these findings and as part of the ongoing work to raise awareness of cancer rehabilitation, we have produced a short video below which explains the benefits of cancer rehabilitation and provides examples of the services and resources available to patients, their carers, friends and family from the start of a diagnosis, through to treatment and beyond.
You can also search for local services offering support, activities and cancer rehabilitation on our cancer services map here.