26 June 2012
Children and young people with cancer will be given even more support from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals after the Trust developed a new role to help young patients receive all the information they need to help them fight the disease.
The Trust has recently employed Nicki Lee in the position of patient information, children and young people’s clinical specialist radiographer, at Weston Park Hospital. Mrs Lee will combine two major roles that will benefit patients of all ages who need radiotherapy. Her main focus will be to give further support to young people who are having treatment at the hospital for the first time and are coming from Sheffield Children’s Hospital. As part of this she will be able to be a constant point of contact for the young person and their family both before and during their treatment at the hospital.
Mrs Lee said her new role will help support children and young people to get all the information they need and answer all the questions they might have when they are treated at the hospital. She said: “We understand that moving to an adult setting to get treatment can at times be difficult for young people and children and so I will be working hard to make that experience as smooth as possible and make sure they have access to all the information they need. Of course, the kind of information young people and children need is very different and has to be written in a style which is appropriate but also you have to be aware that their parents or carers also need a more detailed type of information too so they themselves can fully understand.”
Mrs Lee said her work will involve a close partnership with Sheffield Children’s Hospital and will give patients a familiar face and point of contact throughout their treatment at Weston Park Hospital. She said: “I will be a link for the children coming for radiotherapy from the Children’s hospital. I will visit them while they are at the Children’s Hospital and then be there for them again when they come for their treatment. I will also arrange visits prior to treatment so the children can familiarise themselves with the radiotherapy department so it will be less scary for them when they do come.”
Mrs Lee’s work will also include supporting adults at the hospital and giving them a constant place to pop in to ask for information or guidance. Mrs Lee explained: “I will be available away from the treatment machine and the doctors’ clinics where patients are sometimes reluctant to ask for further information. I will be able give them access to a range of information but also the added time they need to ask the questions they might have thought of since their treatment or forgotten to ask during their appointment.”
Dr Simon Pledge works at Weston Park Hospital as a consultant paediatric clinical oncologist and treats the patients that Mrs Lee supports. He said he was delighted that the post had been created. He said: “Nicki has only been in the role for a matter of weeks, but even in this time we have already seen examples of how this has enhanced the already excellent radiotherapy service provided to the children of South Yorkshire. The critical role of coordinating and managing the information needs of all patents, including adults, will now be enhanced by this appointment.”
