Leading officials from Macmillan Cancer Support visited Whiston Hospital to see the work of the award-winning teams at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Members of the charity’s senior leadership team met the Trust’s cancer specialists and patients who shared their experiences of developing and delivering services for local residents, often thanks to support from Macmillan.
They also heard about the goals, opportunities and challenges for the teams in the future.
The visitors were also given an insight into the Trust’s award-winning Brain Pathway and Cancer Advice Line projects and learned about the organisation’s Upper GI cancer project and the work to develop better care for those with metastatic cancers, where the cancer has spread from where it started to another part of the body.
Diane Dearden, the Trust’s Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse, said: “We were delighted to welcome the national Macmillan team and give them an insight into the innovative and award-winning projects that are currently taking place while providing an understanding of what is it like to live in this area with a cancer diagnosis.
“We demonstrated the impact the team has made to people with cancer through the wonderful investment and support from Macmillan.
“Our goal was to show that our extensive engagement with people with lived experience of cancer in our communities is the ‘golden thread’ running through our work and has helped us to better understand and address any health inequalities.’’
Patients were asked to attend and give their feedback with one saying: “I honestly felt it was such an honour and a big step for me to be able to tell a full and honest story about what people with diagnoses of metastatic cancer go through.
“I really feel we are making some progress now in having an input into developing care and it was nice to show how what is happening locally through our partnership work is making a difference.’’
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust Chief Executive, Ann Marr OBE, also welcomed the meeting.
She said: “We are very grateful to Macmillan for all their support, and this was a great chance to meet their senior leaders and show them the positive effects of their support for our teams.
“Our goal is always to provide five-star patient care and it is clear there is a lot of excellent work being undertaken by our cancer teams and it is nice to see some of the positive effects this is having for our patients in a number of areas.’’