Macmillan Partnership

Macmillan Cancer Support is helping our Trust deliver a better experience for people with cancer in north west London through the navigators programme, funding for clinical nurse specialists, and much more.

Macmillan Cancer Support and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are working together to deliver a better experience for people with cancer in north west London.

Together we are using evidence and expert knowledge to shape services so that all patients experience the best possible care and support, at every stage of their journey, from diagnosis to end of treatment and beyond.

The aim is to ensure that no one faces cancer alone.

With almost £3 million investment from Macmillan, the partnership will:

• connect and strengthen support, so cancer patients experience a smooth treatment journey
• fully integrate cancer services and the sharing of information between different care professionals
• improve the support and self-management of people living with and beyond cancer

The partnership will also focus on training and education to enable healthcare professionals to deliver more compassionate and personalised cancer care, as well as help empower patients to take control of their own cancer treatment and care.

The first phase of the partnership started in January 2015 and has already delivered eight new cancer nurse specialists, established the navigator service, rolled out the Schwartz Rounds to facilitate staff support and reflection and begun the work looking at living with and beyond cancer. Phase one also included an innovative pilot programme that introduced 10 new patient navigators.

The team of navigators are a single telephone contact for all and any cancer patient who will help guide each person with cancer through their health service journey from detection, to diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. They are the first and single point of contact for all questions and queries – the navigators will establish who needs to help and what needs to happen, and then do it. The navigators work closely with the nurse specialist team, so if a patient phones with a clinical question, the navigators ensure that a nurse specialist returns the patient’s call. The navigators are also there to assist patients and carers by answering questions, helping with appointment bookings and accessing local support services. They are part of the multidisciplinary team supporting individual patients, and so ensure joined-up care.

The next phase of the programme focuses on taking research data from previous cancer case histories to identify patterns that have resulted in more positive outcomes for patients – then using this to refine and develop care services, patient information and support. These new services and support will then be rolled out across the care system, while enhancing co-ordination and collaboration between all levels of health, social and community care.