Keywords: Cancer; Living with Cancer

Background:

Lincolnshire is a large county in England characterised by rural and coastal communities. 81 Primary Care practices are responsible for the primary health care for their local populations. There are ~37,000 people living with cancer in Lincolnshire. The Lincolnshire Living with Cancer Programme is implementing personalised care and support for people PLWC in the county.

Aim of the case report:

Cancer patients who receive personalised support for their psychosocial needs can experience better quality of life than those who do not, but those living in Lincolnshire’s rural and coastal communities face challenges in access to appropriate information, advice and psychosocial support and integrated services. A collaborative approach between the LWC Programme and Primary Care practices can facilitate effective support for patients in these communities.

Case report:

Practices are supported to deliver high quality personalised support to patients, including Cancer Care Reviews when patients can discuss their experiences, treatment effects and other well-being issues. Primary Care teams are supported with a co-produced review protocol, invitation templates, key questions to consider and information about local support services. A secure email address is provided by the Programme team for specialist cancer support queries. The team is supporting practices to use Electronic Health Needs Assessments which provide a framework for understanding patients’ needs and mutually agreed actions. Practice cancer care co-ordinators have been trained and supported to integrate with local neighbourhood networks and embed robust connections between organisations to enable effective multi-disciplinary working.

Conclusions:

62/81 Primary Care Practices have had Cancer Care Review training, 8 Cancer Care Co-ordinators have completed training to effectively support their patients, 60 primary care, community health and hospice staff have completed brief intervention training for psychosocial assessment and support.
Collaborative working can enhance Primary Care teams’ skills, knowledge, confidence and networking required to effectively support rural and coastal cancer patients.