Cancer Talk August 2018 Welcome to this edition of Cancer Talk, a short information publication for Primary Care Nurses and GPs to inform, update and share best practice around cancer prevention and care when supporting patients living with and beyond cancer. This month’s edition includes: Cancer prevention, Cancer Link nurse (with CCG data for cervical screening attached) and the Macmillan Practice Nurse course update. Cancer Prevention. 43% of cancers are preventable (CRUK). Many of us are very aware of the obvious risks associated with cancer including smoking, obesity and the sun. However evidence suggests many people are not aware of the risks associated with alcohol, lack of exercise, HPV and H.Pylori. Only 10% of patients are aware of the risks of alcohol and cancer. Alcohol is linked to 7 different types of cancer with breast cancer being the most prominent. Alcohol induces a rise in oestrogen levels in the blood increasing the risk of breast cancer, CRUK.
Transcript
Cancer TalkAugust 2018
Welcome to this edition of Cancer Talk, a short information publication for Primary Care Nurses and GPs to inform, update and share best practice around cancer prevention and care when supporting patients living with and beyond cancer.
This month’s edition includes: Cancer prevention, Cancer Link nurse (with CCG data for cervical screening attached) and the Macmillan Practice Nurse course update.
Cancer Prevention.
43% of cancers are preventable (CRUK). Many of us are very aware of the obvious risks associated with cancer including smoking, obesity and the sun. However evidence suggests many people are not aware of the risks associated with alcohol, lack of exercise, HPV and H.Pylori.
Only 10% of patients are aware of the risks of alcohol and cancer. Alcohol is linked to 7 different types of cancer with breast cancer being the most prominent. Alcohol induces a rise in oestrogen levels in the blood increasing the risk of breast cancer, CRUK.
There are many ways in which we can initiate discussions with Patients about their lifestyles and cancer risks. Very brief advice (VBA) can be the starting step that is needed to encourage a person to evaluate their wellbeing. There is a short VBA training module available via Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to demonstrate how VBA can be applied to every day consultations. You will need to set up an account with RCGP which is a quick and easy process and available for all members of the Health Care team working in Primary Care. Please then go to the RCGP Primary Care Toolkit and select cancer prevention to access the module or contact Kate if you would like an in house prevention training session.
Cancer Link Nurse
Another important part of cancer prevention is cancer screening. Attached is the latest cervical screening uptake for your area. This shows the England average, the CCG average and the uptake for each practice. This information is available via PHE Finger tips https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/Identifying and contacting non responders within your practice can help to improve uptake. There are many actions a practice can take to help support patients to uptake screening, including establishing a Cancer Screening Link within the practice; this enables a named lead/champion for screening responsible for leadership, patient engagement and coordination of screening activity in the practice. This also helps discussion about screening at team meetings and gets everyone involved in campaigns. If you would like to become a Cancer Link within your practice or would like further information about the three Cancer screening campaigns please contact either Kate [email protected] or Sarah murphy at PHE: [email protected] Macmillan Practice Nurse Course
In July day 3 of the Practice Nurse Cancer course was held at Ashford Pilgrims Hospice. The day focussed on cancer treatment with specialist talks and case studies to look at how Primary Care can provide support for Patients undergoing treatment. The Macmillan Urology CNS joined us for the morning to talk to the nurses about prostate cancer and its management. This was followed by a chemotherapy and radiotherapy session. The Acute Oncology team also joined us to discuss neutropenic sepsis and spinal cord compression and the day was evaluated as invaluable. The nurses also enjoyed a full tour of the Hospice and got the chance to see the wonderful facilities and support available. All of the Practice nurses are in the process of buddying a Macmillan Cancer Nurse Specialist to facilitate their learning and development further. Please do continue to register your interest for next year’s Macmillan course which will be starting in May 2019.
