Other professionals you may meet
A Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is an expert nurse and a consistent point of contact for you, your family and any other healthcare professionals involved in your care. Your named CNS may also be referred to as your key worker. This means they area point of contact for you and your family and assistance in coordinating your care between different services and hospitals. Your CNS will offer support to you and your family throughout diagnosis, treatment and follow up. While you will be allocated a named CNS within the TYA service we work in teams and therefore you will get to know a few of us.
Your CNS works closely with the team of healthcare professionals who will be caring for you - known as the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) – and will ensure that any concerns you have are communicated to all necessary members of the MDT. We can liaise with your school, college or employer if this is beneficial to you.
Your CNS can also help by:
- Providing you with - and helping you to understand - any written information you are given
- Explaining current research relating to your condition, and analysing information from websites and the media
- Offering you an assessment to identify any financial, practical and emotional concerns you may have. This is known as a Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA)
- Providing you with the knowledge and support needed to manage your health at home, where possible, during treatment and to self-manage when you have completed treatment
- Referring you to relevant support services, counselling and welfare, and benefits advice
- Advising you over the telephone should you become unwell or are concerned about any side effects of treatment
- Contacting your GP, local Hospital, Community nursing team or UCLH medical team should you require a review, continuing care or admission, and explaining your needs
- Visiting you in clinics or when you are undergoing treatment in the ward or day care unit, to discuss your ongoing care whenever possible (dependent on the CNS’s workload).
Youth Support Coordinators are there to support you and make being in hospital as positive experience as possible. They provide an informal and relaxed atmosphere through activities and groups. For example: pamper days, pool tournaments and Domino's pizza lunches! They make sure there are plenty of chances to socialise and stay connected with other people your age. They are also trained to give practical help and emotional support about specific issues for you, your family and friends as well as preparing and supporting you with procedures and tests that you may come across.
Pathway Coordinators offer administrative support to you and your team and oversee your treatment pathway. They will communicate regularly with your local hospital services when needed, ensuring that they’re aware of any updates in your care.
You will be given the contact details of one of our Pathway Co-ordinators, who are contactable from Monday to Friday, 09:00 til 17:00. They should be your first point of call for all general, non-urgent advice.
Examples of ways your Pathway Coordinator can help include:
- Helping you to get in touch with any hospital staff or services you may wish to speak to
- Arranging or changing an outpatient appointment or a scan/investigation appointment
- Organising tests and investigations
- Keeping your details up-to-date
- Booking an interpreter to be with you at your outpatient appointment
- Advising you on arranging hospital transport
- Helping with booking accommodation.
This list is not exhaustive and we are always happy to help with any queries or concerns.
Haematology Pathway Co-ordinator: 020 3447 1856 or 07534 324591
Oncology Pathway Co-ordinator: 020 3447 1862 or 07534 324703
Social workers offer emotional, financial and practical support after a cancer diagnosis. They will help you to carry on with your everyday life as much as possible during treatment and recovery.
Our teachers provide educational support and will help you keep on top of your coursework. They will work together with your own school or college to make sure you don’t fall behind with your learning. If you need help applying for jobs or courses, please ask one of the teachers to refer you to a connexions adviser.
On T12 there is an education centre staffed by three teachers who are there to help you keep up with your school and college work. This may involve helping with work set by your teachers, completing coursework, revising for exams or just focussing on topics and subjects that you are interested in or need help with. We believe that education is essential to your success and well-being and we want to ensure that you get all the support you need to do well.
The majority of the teaching in the school is either 1:1 or small group and is very specific to your individual needs. In addition, there are regular sessions from the Connexions Service and visiting artists and musicians.
Our teachers can also make links with your home school or college and help plan your reintegration. We can even arrange, with prior notice, for you to take your exams in hospital, if necessary.
The schoolroom on T12 is open Weekdays, from Monday–Friday, during term time, for school-aged inpatients. There is also a schoolroom on T11 for primary aged children.
If you have any questions regarding your education while you are in hospital please phone 0203 447 1292 or email: t12schoolroom
The Psych-Oncology team is formed of psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
We are here to offer you and your family support at diagnosis, during treatment, and after treatment. This is usually by talking with you alone or with a parent, partner or friend. Some people prefer to think about their experiences through doing a creative activity, like ‘Just Bead It’, which we run as a day workshop and can offer on an individual basis. We also offer groups relating to different aspects of living with cancer, which can also be an opportunity to connect with other young people that have has similar experiences. You can self-refer to our team by asking your Clinical Nurse Specialist to contact us.
We try as much as we can to meet at times that are convenient to you- either that fit in with treatment or hospital appointments or that take into account school, college, university or work. We offer times within the 9am - 6pm working day for the whole family to talk too or time just for your parent/s.
Being diagnosed with cancer can be difficult and disruptive to your life and it can help to talk about these feelings either during treatment or afterward. We can offer appointments to young people up to the age of 25.
The appointments usually last for about fifty minutes to an hour and you can talk about whatever is on your mind. These matters are confidential unless you tell us that you are at risk in some way in which case we will discuss with you what we need to do to keep you safe.
We are sorry but we are not able to offer home visits.
We look forward to meeting you should you wish to use this service.
The Physiotherapist will assess areas such as your strength, walking pattern, balance and your movement and will be given advice and exercises depending on your need/difficulties.
The Physiotherapist can advise you on the following:
- Advise you on what exercises and activities to do at home when having cancer treatment.
- Help you maintain and build up your strength before during and after your cancer treatment.
- Help you with any walking or balance difficulties throughout your treatment pathway
- Support with increasing confidence in starting new exercises
In addition, the cancer centre has gym areas where you can do some gentle exercises with the physio. Here there is access to a treadmill, cross trainer and exercise bike.
If appropriate we can refer you to the therapy service in your local community.
We have a team of dietitians who can offer advice and information on all things food and nutrition related. You may be referred by another member of the TYA team or you may ask to see a dietitian yourself, either way, we are happy to help. Our main goal is to help make sure you are getting everything you need from your diet through treatment. We can do this by helping to support you with managing your weight and advising on a well-balanced diet or even just by answering any food or nutrition related queries you might have. You may meet with one of the dietitians in a number of places such as on the ward, at day-care, in outpatient clinics or even speak with one of us on the phone.
On your first meeting with the dietitian we will aim to get to know you and find out about what your goals are. We’ll try to gather as much information as possible to help you in the best way we can. This information will generally include a history of your weight and height, you’re typical diet and your favourite / least liked foods and drinks. We will then look at all the information and work with you to develop a diet plan unique to you. Once you have started on a plan we’ll then aim to meet with you every now and then to touch base and see how you’re getting on. This is a good opportunity to adjust your plan to suit you. However, you can always contact us in between these times if you need more advice.
There can be a lot of confusing information out there about nutrition so we can help you to sort the fact from fiction. If you would like to see one of us do ask a member of the team to contact us or you can contact us directly on 02034479289.
The Occupational Therapists (OT) can support you with a range of different things during and after your cancer treatment.
Areas the Occupational Therapist can support with include
- Supporting you to manage with everyday activities that may become difficult during your cancer treatment, such as washing, dressing, getting in/out of the bath or shower, cooking and other domestic chores.
- Advising on strategies to managing well at school/ college/ university or work. Or help with returning to school/ college/ university or work
- Fatigue management advice- you may experience increased tiredness during and after your cancer treatment and the Occupational Therapist can support you in setting up appropriate routines to manage this effectively
- Relaxation and anxiety management strategies
- Support with maintaining good sleeping patterns
- Advise on how to manage any memory or concentration problems that you may experience during your cancer treatment
- Functional difficulties such as issues with handwriting, sitting at a computer for longer periods or support with body image.
The Occupational Therapist may recommend certain equipment to help you manage and remain as independent as possible or discuss strategies you can implement to support you throughout your treatment. This can be with you and your family.
Complementary therapy supports conventional treatments, such as surgery, by helping to reduce stress and anxiety. Our complementary therapists offer massage, reflexology, reiki, aromatherapy and relaxation. These therapies are available for you and your parents or carers. If you’d like to find out more, talk to your CNS or ask for a copy of our leaflet ‘Complementary therapies’.
