Cancer is no longer a death sentence,but treatment is the first step in a long and arduous journey, and NHS services can’t retain up[br]The message has been clear for some time: cancer treatments are improving and people are living longer. This is undoubtedly a ray of hope at a time when the NHS remains under such strain. Cancer need no longer be a death sentence. But is a longer survival where the role of the NHS ends? For many of the patients I work with as a clinical psychologist, or surviving illness and treatment is just one step of an arduous journey,and our services are struggling to support people sufficiently.
As services creak under the economic challenges, I wonder how I will manage to provide therapy to the young woman whose soft-tissue sarcoma treatment will require the amputation of her arm and who will find she can barely leave her home because she anxiety that people are talking approximately her. How will I support the man whose laryngectomy is a daily reminder of his life as an opera singer, or now lost,and for which he is still grieving? whether they wanted an appointment right now I might be able to slip them in under the radar of service protocol — as “survivors” their treatment was too long ago to meet our normal criteria. But will I still be able to stretch the service I currently provide as that population increases?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com