World Cancer Day highlights the importance of person-centred care, which embraces individuals for who they are. This year’s #UnitedByUnique campaign aims to strengthen connections – not just between healthcare providers and patients, but across entire communities. Each of us has a vital role to play in this movement.
At Cancer Support UK, our mission is to create a kinder world for those diagnosed with cancer. We see the person behind the diagnosis and provide emotional support at the times when they need it most – both during and after treatment.
World Cancer Day acknowledges and validates every individual’s unique experience, fostering a sense of belonging and shared understanding among those affected by cancer.
Person-centred care differs from patient-centred care in that it looks beyond the disease, considering the individual as a whole—taking into account their emotional, psychological, and social needs. In contrast, patient-centric care primarily focuses on clinical treatment within the healthcare system.
With increasing pressure on NHS services, which are largely focused on meeting the physical needs of cancer patients, charities like Cancer Support UK are more essential than ever in addressing emotional wellbeing. While early diagnosis and treatment remain the NHS’s top priorities, ongoing emotional support often takes a backseat, leaving a critical gap that organisations like ours are dedicated to filling.
We have noticed an increased need for the following:
- Cancer type information pages, which give vital facts about cancer symptoms, early diagnosis, treatment options and side effects.
- Workplace cancer support training, which helps organisations education and empower their workforces, reducing the stigma of cancer and enabling employees to support colleagues facing a cancer diagnosis.
- Free Cancer Kits – for example, in 2024 we sent out nearly 3,000 Cancer Kits to adults and children being treated for cancer.
- Cancer Compass – where people are feeling overwhelmed by information, our Cancer Compass is a tool that is quick and easy to use and can help people navigate support easily
- Cancer Coach variations inc Focus Forwards and Cancer Coach Digital
Cancer Support UK fully supports a person-centred approach. In fact it’s something we’ve been doing consistently for over 20 years with our Cancer Kits, Cancer Coach programmes and more recently our Workplace Cancer Support Training.
We will always strive to raise awareness of cancer, cancer symptoms and the need for as early a diagnosis as possible. Because, the more people are informed about cancer, the better able they are to support someone with cancer. However, our principle focus is on meeting the emotional needs of people with a cancer diagnosis.
Self-referral – a more flexible approach to support
As a charity, we are largely self-referral, this gives people the opportunity to access support at a time that is right for them rather than at a prescriptive time. Overall we feel this is more effective as people engage better with the support when it comes at the right time.
Of course this brings its own challenges such as reaching people at the right time.
However, it is important to note that people may sometimes access our support at the ‘wrong’ time, i.e. too soon after their treatment has finished. Sometimes people reach out to us when our support isn’t right, because they are desperate for any support. This is indicative of a lack of provision of support services more widely.
For example, our Cancer Coach groups are not run by location. This is helpful as it means everyone has the opportunity to access it no matter where they are in the UK (i.e. no one misses out because of a lack of peer support groups in the local area).
We believe peer support is one of the most powerful tools for emotional recovery as it significantly decreases isolation. Running peer support groups requires significant resource which we can provide as we specialise in this area.
Cancer Kits – “like a hug in a box”
Our Cancer Kits are filled with practical, useful items that bring joy and comfort to adults and children going through treatment. Our feedback data tells us that:
- 97% of kit recipients rate us for providing support and reducing loneliness
- 97.5% of people receiving a kit say it improved their wellbeing
- 75.5% said the kit helped reduce their financial burden
Our Cancer Kit recipients tell us how:
- Comforting the kit is at what is a very frightening time
- How grateful they are for the items, which make a difficult time much brighter
- How useful the items are, making them smile
- How amazing it is to feel supported (by the kit and the kindness of strangers who have donated to send the kit) – “the kits feel like a hug in a box”
- How helpful the kit is when money is short
- How the kit helped them feel less alone on what feels like a long lonely journey.
- How the kit is full of thoughtful, well chosen items, that make them feel like someone is looking out for them.
- The kit feels like someone is holding their hand and who understands the difficulties they are going through.
Cancer Coach continues to provide emotional support for thousands of people post treatment
Our survey from 2024 confirms that 76% of people feel an increased sense of isolation and loneliness on completion of their cancer treatment.
However, for the people who have completed our Cancer Coach programme, 84% said they felt less lonely and isolated afterwards. They also felt that they were equipped with the skills and coping strategies to help manage their emotions post treatment (89% agreed that they had improved skills/coping strategies). 85% said that their emotional wellbeing improved following Cancer Coach.
Additional follow-up support
We’re also offering Cancer Coach participants the opportunity to attend catch up sessions at one month, three month and six month intervals following completion of Cancer Coach. These are proving extremely popular, giving our participants an additional sense of community and security. In addition, we know that a significant number of our groups keep in touch with each other via WhatsApp groups, having formed a strong bond with their fellow group participants.
Our Cancer Compass emotional checker tool, provides additional data, confirming that 86% of people who accessed the tool had experienced anxiety and/or low mood since completing their cancer treatment. 42% of these people said they would find it useful to talk with others in a group setting.
Which again shows that the support needs for individuals are all unique – there is no one size fits all approach. Some people are in urgent need of support, while others prefer to go it alone.
Why people need emotional support
The following quotes are indicative of how people feel when they apply to Cancer Coach:
- “I feel a bit lost – I know I should be happy to be cancer-free, but there’s this constant worry that it might come back or that something was missed. I also don’t feel completely comfortable in my own body.”
- “The area where I had radiotherapy still feels uncomfortable, and I feel like I’ve been left to deal with it on my own. Losing my right breast to a mastectomy has changed how I see myself, and I struggle with how my body looks now. I feel low, anxious, and angry, and the fear of recurrence is always there. I’m not sleeping well and feel both physically and emotionally drained.”
- “My treatment isn’t over – I’m on a ten-year Tamoxifen plan, and this first year has been particularly tough. The side effects have taken a toll on my mental health, especially at night when everything slows down and I finally have time to process everything.”
- “I feel incredibly anxious, especially when it comes to the possibility of recurrence. The ongoing tests and check-ups can be overwhelming, and at times, it feels like cancer still dominates my life. Surgical menopause has made things even harder, and since I can’t take HRT, managing the symptoms has been a struggle. When I feel low, I also feel guilty – like I should just be grateful to be okay.”
- “I feel scared, worried, alone and overwhelmed.
Digital support to meet the needs of busy lifestyles
We’ve also been developing ways of supporting even more people with a range of digital programmes, which are already proving extremely successful. We’ve listened and responded to the needs of people who would have liked to access our Cancer Coach support, but whose busy lifestyle needed a more flexible approach.
- Cancer Coach Digital features 12 modules based on the original Cancer Coach programme, which users can access at any time.
- Cancer Coach Focus Forwards is a one-hour interactive workshop designed to help anyone who has completed their cancer treatment move forward with confidence. During this 60-minute Zoom session, our experienced Cancer Coach facilitator will share common post-treatment emotions, as well as offering personal insight through their own experience. There is the opportunity to ask questions and participants are taught a valuable exercise to help manage anxiety and emotions. Email cancercoach@cancersupportuk.org to book a place on the next session.
Don’t struggle alone
Keeping in touch with your own support network is very important. This doesn’t always have to be family support. For example, you could talk to friends, colleagues, or external support such as local cancer centres who run local groups or counselling services.
Some people have a strong support network already, others may be much more isolated. Resources such as The Cancer Care map can help to find local services.
We know that cancer doesn’t exist in isolation from other life challenges. There are lots of support services, which can help with a range of issues, e.g. benefits advice and grants entitlement to help with ongoing financial pressures and the cost of cancer alongside the cost of living crisis, mental health and wellbeing support, bereavement support and befriending services to name a few.
Cancer Support UK offers signposting resources, which can provide a starting point when searching for help.