CANCERTALK

Over her distinguished career, Claire Taylor MBE has been at the forefront of the development of cancer nursing, bringing her interest in personalisation and continuity of care to the role, and introducing many new aspects to cancer nursing that have significantly improved the experience of patients before, during and after treatment. Her leadership in the development of nursing in colorectal cancer was acknowledged with the award of an MBE. In this episode she reflects on her achievements and speaks about the current drive to deliver further personalisation through initiatives to move supportive care for cancer out into the community, and to improve accessibility to and increasing range of lifestyle interventions.

Professor Robert Thomas returns to CANCERTALK  to share news of developments since taking up the role of Head of Oncology at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine. He also shares his thoughts on the direction and missed opportunities in the new 10 Year Cancer Plan as well as the latest news from his long-running series of randomised trials of lifestyle interventions for cancer.

With personal experience of cancer when only twenty-four and a career built around cancer care in the charity sector, Julie Worrall, Interim CEO at The Teenage Cancer Trust, is ideally suited to understand the very specific needs of young people unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancer. While radical change is desperately needed right across the sector to broaden the scope of cancer care beyond administering treatments, young people have fared particularly poorly when it comes to having their needs met, needs which are very specific to their age. The Teenage Cancer Trust is on a mission to change that, and has played a significant part in the inclusion of specific plans for young people in the National Cancer Plan for the first time.

Dr Santosh Rao has recently completed a term as President of the Society for Integrative Oncology, a leading force in the drive for integration in cancer care and now works at the Cleveland Clinic. Unusually, he is qualified in both Oncology and Integrative Oncology and he has a passion for bringing these two worlds together. In this episode, Dr Rao reviews progress in the integrative movement in recent years, and discusses the therapeutic relationship and the enormous potential that is inherent in it to improve patients wellbeing and outcomes through person-centred care, and the conscious utilisation of the placebo effect.

Dr Ayodele is a Consultant Oncologist who is passionate about bringing change to oncology. As a black woman, she sees part of her role as the spokesperson for marginalised groups when it comes to accessing the best prevention and care, but she is also very focused on driving personalisation forward as a means to address a much broader view of patients as people with multidimensional needs – needs which if responded to appropriately, contribute positively to quality of life and outcomes.