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Home care for cancer patients
We understand how devastating a cancer diagnosis can be to all the family. However, people can live well for many years to come, and the right care at home can improve a person’s quality of life. Receiving compassionate cancer care in the safety and familiarity of your own home has far reaching benefits in improving wellbeing for a person who is living with cancer.
The one-to-one, highly personalised and flexible support we provide from a trained and well-matched carer is proven to improve quality of life. Our approach to providing high quality cancer care at home is setting the standard in live-in cancer care. We provide a fully-managed and regulated service that families can trust.
What is a cancer?
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stops working. Old cells do not die and instead grow out of control, forming new abnormal cells. These extra cells may form a mass tissue, called a tumour, whereas other cancers, such as Leukaemia do not form these mass tissues.
Cancer may occur anywhere in the body. In women, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, and in men prostate cancer is the most prevalent. Lung cancer and colorectal cancer affect both men and women in high numbers.
There are five main categories of cancer:
- Carcinomas – this begins in the skin or tissues that line the
internal organs - Sarcomas – this cancer develops in the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle or other connective tissues
- Leukaemia – this begins in the blood and bone marrow
- Lymphomas – this starts in the immune system
- Central nervous system – this is when cancer develops in the brain and spinal cord
Cancer – facts and stats
- There are around 367,000 new cancer cases in the UK every year – devastatingly that is around 1,000 every day across the country.
- In females in the UK, there were more than 179,000 new cancer cases in 2017. Males accounted for 187,000 new cases in the
same year. - Every two minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer.
- Breast, prostate, lung and bowel cancers together accounted 53% of all new cancer cases in the UK in 2017.
- Each year 36% of all diagnosed cancer cases in the UK are in people aged 75 and over.
- Incidence rates for all cancers combined in the UK are highest in people aged 85 to 89 (2015-2017).
Signs and symptoms
Signs and symptoms caused by cancer will vary depending on what part of the body is affected. Some general signs and symptoms associated with, but not specific to, cancer include:
- Fatigue
- Lump or area of thickening that can be felt under the skin
- Weight changes, including unintended loss or gain in weight
- Skin changes, such as yellowing, darkening or redness of the skin, sores that will not heal, or changes in existing moles
- Changes in bowel or bladder habits
- Persistent cough or trouble breathing
- Difficulty swallowing
- Hoarseness
- Persistent indigestion or discomfort after eating
- Persistent, unexplained muscle or joint pain
- Persistent, unexplained fevers or night sweats
- Unexplained bleeding or bruising
Benefits of cancer care at home
Receiving cancer care in the comfort and familiarity of your own home provides many benefits, including:
- An unrivalled quality of one-to-one personal care and attention
- Complete continuity of care, 24 hours a day
- The maintenance of your independence and freedom to live life as you choose
- Help with medication management
- Nutritional support through meal planning and cooking
- Relief from the burden of domestic chores such as cleaning, shopping and laundry
- Lowers risk of infection and illness
- Companionship and emotional support, as and if you need it
What does our cancer care include?
Specialist nurse-led care
Importantly for those recovering from and living with cancer, we provide nurse-led care. This means our professional carers are trained to monitor and identify any changes in your health, responding appropriately and avoiding any unnecessary hospital admissions. As part of our commitment to delivering high-quality cancer care at home, we monitor and measure health outcomes, to ensure we continually improve the cancer care we provide. When needed, we work with leading nursing companies and other healthcare professionals, to ensure any complex medical procedures can be delivered at home.
If you need to attend hospital for radio or chemotherapy, our compassionate carer will accompany you to these visits providing support – just when you need it.
Expert palliative care at home
Our professional carers receive specialist training on how to care and support a person approaching the end of life, supporting both their medical, social and emotional needs. Our high-quality palliative cancer care at home service is a holistic approach, tailored to manage symptoms and support any complex medical procedures which may be needed. Our flexible approach to planning care at this stage in someone’s cancer care journey is focused on promoting comfort and dignity, whilst ensuring a person’s needs, wishes and choices are met, right to the very end of life.
Managing and administering medications
We know how important it is to effectively manage medications for those living with cancer. Our professional carers are trained in medications management and use an electronic medications system to ensure all medications are managed proactively and efficiently. They will also collect prescriptions from the pharmacy.
Ensuring safe mobility in and around the home
Uniquely, we have an in-house Occupational Therapist, Jackie Cooper who will provide expert guidance and advice as to what equipment can help improve safe movement and mobility around your home, whilst providing recommendations as to home adaptations that will make life at home easier.
Providing discreet and sensitive personal care
This can include the task-oriented aspects of caring for someone with cancer at home, like bathing and dressing but also tasks that promote self-esteem, like having your nails maintained, or your hair styled.
Facilitating social arrangements in the home
Your carer will ensure you can invite friends over for socialisation and celebrations, providing the support you need to enjoy yourself and not worry about organising anything.
Trips and visits out of the home in your local community
Our carers know how important it is to ensure you can continue to do as much as you wish and that you remain connected to your local community – whether that is a stroll around the local park, attending clubs or groups in the local area, or visiting friends or your regular shops.
Domestic tasks
This includes cleaning of all rooms and vacuuming throughout to keep your house to the standards of cleanliness and tidiness you always have.
Caring for your much-loved pet
Carers will happily support looking after your pet, including taking dogs for regular walks.
Types of cancer care available
Our home health care for cancer patients is highly flexible and we provide our service as either 24 hour live-in care, a short term care arrangement or as respite care.
With a home care service for cancer patients, a professional carer will live with you in your home providing around the clock care and support, focused on improving your overall health and wellbeing, whilst enhancing the quality of your life. There are many benefits of 24 hour care, not least that the carer will truly get to know you as a person, not just your care needs but they will be on hand to support you to live life the way you wish, with as much independence as possible.
Respite care, or a short-term arrangement, provides an opportunity for a family carer to take a much needed break from caring for someone who has cancer and is living at home. It also provides an opportunity to try live-in care for the first time, to see how live-in care works and whether it is the right choice for you in the future.
Why choose The Good Care Group for home healthcare for cancer patients?
There are many compelling reasons to use The Good Care Group for high quality cancer home care.
- Individualised care plans - our highly personalised support plans take into consideration not just your care needs, but your preferences and wishes with respect and sensitivity.
- A fully managed service - our service is fully managed by care experts so that you don’t have to worry about supervising and managing the carer looking after your loved one.
- Cancer expertise - our years of experience in providing cancer care allows us to anticipate your care needs so that you’re always as comfortable as possible.
- Palliative care - we offer highly personalised and flexible palliative care at home that is proven to not only meet a person’s care needs, but also improve their quality of life no matter where they are in their journey.
- Access to our experts - we have a dedicated in-house Specialist Consultant Nurse, Dr Jane Pritchard, who develops, leads and supports our high quality cancer care at home. Our expert Occupational Therapist, Jackie Cooper, provides our clients with the support they need to live safely and well at home.
- A holistic and multi-disciplinary approach - we work closely with all other healthcare professionals involved in delivering care to someone with cancer, including GP’s, district nurses and physiotherapists.
- Improve health outcomes - we use the latest technlogies to predict risk and shape the care we provide. We measure health outcomes to ensure we are always improving the health and wellbeing of our clients.
- Lower risk of infection - our use of award-winning technology and the close monitoring of clients by our trained professional carers results in a lower risk of infection for the people we care for.
- Companionship - our dedicated and compassionate carers are always there to provide companionship and emotional support, as and if you need it.
- Award-winning service - we are the only dedicated live-in care provider in England to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We have achieved this rating in all five measures – safe, effective, caring responsive and well-led.
What is included in our service?
Our highly personalised and flexible cancer care at home service includes:
- Full assessment before care starts
- Access to clinical expertise and medical support
- Bespoke and flexible care plan developed with input from the family and other healthcare professionals
- Matching of the most suitable care team to meet the holistic needs of our clients
- Dedicated care team led by an expert regional care manager
- Meal planning and household tasks
- Social activities and lifestyle enhancement
- Specialist support and expertise - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Costs of our cancer care
The cost of care for a cancer patient at home will be typically higher, as it is a specialist care at home service.
It is worth considering, however, that live-in care is often cheaper than the total cost of domiciliary care for cancer patients. When a person is receiving hourly care provided by a domiciliary care provider, it is likely that you will be charged extras for additional services to support the person’s specific cancer care needs, on top of the cost of a carer visiting. These extras add up and can become costly over time. The total cost to provide hourly care to someone living with high or complex needs can sometimes exceed the price of an inclusive live-in care service.
Cancer care at home is typically in line with – and sometimes less than – what you would pay for residential care, with the added benefit of receiving one-to-one tailored care, something that cannot typically be achieved in a care home.
Useful resources
We are committed to supporting families through their cancer journey with information that helps inform their decisions when planning long term care. There are several high-profile cancer charities in the UK who support families facing the condition, so you are not doing
so alone.
The UK’s leading cancer charity Cancer Research provides information, support and advice to those facing cancer. They have a wealth of free publications you can access on their website providing information about prevention, treatments and a range of support services available across the country.
Marie Curie is a charity who provides care and support for those living with terminal illness, including cancer. Marie Curie nurses are available to those affected by cancer to provide medical care, as well as all the emotional support you and your family may need, all in the comfort of your own home.
Cancer Support UK provides practical and emotional support to people living with cancer focused on helping them through their treatment period. Their Cancer Coach programme is an eight-week structured support and resilience course, delivered by phone for people nearing the end of cancer treatment or for those who have finished their treatment.
Other conditions we care for
Talk to us about your cancer care needs
Our friendly and experienced team is here to help you and your family make sense of the options available to you. Call us today – we will help you every step of the way.