London, UK, Dec 31, 2019 -- Growing numbers of people with cancer are seeking advice from Macmillan Cancer Support because overstretched NHS staff are too busy to answer their questions, the charity says.
Patients are having to call its helpline for information and guidance instead of asking doctors and nurses in cancer services, who are often too "rushed off their feet" to have the time needed.
Some people are already "at breaking point" by the time they call because they are suffering from anxiety, fear and depression over their diagnosis and what their future holds.
"Every day people call our support line because their world has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis. Whatever the concern – fear about impending test results, anxiety about how they will tell their children or what their scan outcome means – they just need someone to listen and help them make sense of it all," said Ellen Lang, a service manager on Macmillan’s support line.
"When you only have 10 minutes with your doctor and your nurses are visibly rushed off their feet it’s inevitable that you’ll leave without all the answers you need. This is something we’re hearing from people more often now.
"We are able to offer that listening ear and support to those who need it – something we know NHS staff would like to do much more of but just don’t always have the time any more."
By 19 December the charity’s helpline had already helped 65,912 people who between them made 241,234 inquiries. That is up on the 61,701 people it helped in the same period last year and the 58,055 and 55,622 it helped in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The number of people needing emotional support – with anxiety, depression and fear – has risen by 20% in the last year alone, to 8,011. That is the commonest reason for calling and more than those seeking help with issues related to the side-effects of treatment (2,254), pain (882) and tests (1,297).
Demand for its advice has prompted Macmillan to expand its helpline service, which usually operates from 8am to 8pm. It is staffed by cancer information nurses and advisers, financial guides, welfare-rights advisers, a work-support team and energy-advice specialists.
Staff say that many people who call do so in distress at not having had the time to process information about their condition and prognosis when talking to doctors and nurses.
The charity said the growing number of people both being referred for investigation of suspected cancer and diagnosed with the disease is adding to the pressures on NHS cancer staff.
Lynda Thomas, the charity’s chief executive, said: "It’s heartrending that so many people call at breaking point, having struggled to find the support they need from their healthcare team who we know are run ragged and doing the best they can.
"NHS staff do an extraordinary job faced with huge pressures. But as increased demand for our services shows there simply aren’t enough of them to meet the needs of the growing number of people living with cancer."
NHS England did not respond directly to Macmillan’s findings and instead stressed that cancer patients’ experience was improving in other ways, as is how long they live after diagnosis.
In a statement, an NHS spokesperson said: "Most importantly cancer survival is at a record high, and so too patients’ satisfaction with their care, with nine out of 10 patients happy with the support they’ve received, all of which is testament to the hard work and compassion of NHS staff.
"This progress has come despite more people than ever getting checked for cancer, with 2.2 million getting tested last year. Our NHS Long Term Plan will ensure that by 2021 every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care plans, including a needs assessment and health and wellbeing support."
Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
About NHS:
NHS Direct is a 24 hour health advice and information service provided by the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
NHS Direct provides confidential access to medical information, guidance and reassurance through a range of interactive services. These include an expert telephone advice line and detailed web resources.
Published: Thursday, January 2, 2020
| 4.) |  Telephone Answering Services Answer4u offers both SME and corporate sized businesses Telephone Answering Services delivered by our team of professional receptionists. They are all trained to answer your calls, in your company name, whenever you need them most. All of our client calls are answered in our Nottingham offices, in the heart of England. We have agents working on a 24/7 basis, meaning all calls are answered through the day and night by UK based operatives. No calls are ever outsourced or go to an answering machine. Each of our clients has their own personal Account Manager, who heads a team of trained receptionists. Our receptionists answer the phone in your company name, explain to your callers that yo... (read more)    |
| 5.) |  Contact Centre Services We’re a specialist Contact Centre business and market leaders helping socially focused organisations deliver quality support to their clients and service users. We do this by providing 24/7 helplines, software solutions and consultancy services. Since launching in 2006, we’ve operated at the sharp end of customer service, supporting some of society’s most vulnerable people. We’ve pioneered in our space to become a specialist in helplines, whilst using the most advanced communication and database technologies available. Our social mission has remained a constant throughout, providing many meaningful career prospects and growth opportunities to people within our local communities and fur... (read more) |
| 13.) |  WorkGenda WorkGenda is a state of the art WFO cloud service, used by customers around the world. WorkGenda provides: a) an AI based forecasting engine, which automatically generates forecasts with a WAPE of 3 to 5%, b) a capacity management engine based on a traffic simulator, with perfect support for blending regardless the type of channels, which subsequently automatically converts the computed capacity into optimised shifts, where ‘optimised’ equals to a zero or the mathematically minimum possible overstaffing under the given contractual constrains, c) an automated scheduling engine, capable of scheduling 3000 multi-skilled agents for a whole week in 2 minutes and d) an Intraday bot which automatic... (read more) |
LOGIN WITH YOUR CONTACTCENTERWORLD.COM ACCOUNT
I am checking out all the amazing and daily updated content on ContactCenterWorld.com and networking with professionals worldwide
Send To Friends Post On My Wall