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The role Prostate Cancer UK/UCAN Specialist Nurses: Linda Pennet and Debbie Munro.

Project Lead: Dr Sara MacLennan, Director of Operations, UCAN

Who we areUCAN is a charity based in North East Scotland dedicated to raising awareness of urological cancers, building more effective support structures and improving quality of life for people affected by these cancers and their families.

The aim of the UCAN model is to:• develop strategies to raise public awareness

about urological cancers, encouraging people to seek treatment at an early stage

•work with those living with a urological cancer and their families to understand their needs more clearly. This informs the design of future services including aftercare packages

•develop and deliver support strategies and patient-to-patient peer support networks to help people cope with their illness and treatment and make as full a return to normal life as possible.

This is achieved through the UCAN Centre, the UCAN Buddy Network and Online Patient Forum, Health Awareness Presentations and our collaborative programmes of research. All our activity is underpinned by strong theory, is of benefit to patients (and more broadly, society) and makes a contribution to scientific knowledge.

What we’re doing The project facilitates collaborative working within North East Scotland to improve the information, quality of care, information and support provision for patients and their families diagnosed with prostate cancer in remote and rural locations.

Who is involved? • healthcare professionals in Orkney, Shetland and

rural Aberdeenshire including GPs, urologists, radiologist, oncologists, nurses

•UCAN•Prostate Cancer UK• patients and their families.

What we’re trying to achieveUCAN has demonstrated that there is a better way of caring for prostate cancer patients and their families. The success of the UCAN Centre has been established through a portfolio of evaluation projects. This level of care is not available to prostate cancer patients living in remote and rural locations despite taking meaningful strides towards this goal. This project has allowed UCAN to take a giant leap towards standardising the care prostate cancer patients and their families receive irrespective of location.

How it will benefit men?The project will improve information and support available to men and their families, living in remote and rural locations, who have been affected by prostate cancer. We will do this by:• identifying the educational needs of healthcare

professionals in remote and rural locations• developing an educational package to address

the needs of healthcare professionals.

• forging new pathways to existing support structures for healthcare professionals

• forging new pathways to enable men and their families to access existing support mechanisms that UCAN has developed ie UCAN forum, buddy network, telephone helpline and patient led support group empowering men and their families to be better informed and therefore more involved in decision making regarding their treatment.

Any learnings or discoveries so far?We confirmed the importance of getting to know and fully involving service providers in project development work.

We were able to identify new areas of improvement for our own service provision. We achieved this through an in-depth audit of existing services available to our target group.

Biggest challenge?Engaging healthcare professionals; once we had established good working relationships, however, the group were excited about the current project. This was achieved through taking the time to meet with the group face-to-face and spending time getting to know them and their current practice.

Monitoring and evaluationWe are currently in the process of monitoring and evaluating the information and support provision for men and their families affected by prostate cancer and how our work has affected the patient care pathway for men in rural areas. We have no data as yet.

Sustainability plansNHS Grampian have committed to support the Prostate Cancer UK/UCAN Specialist Nurse posts.

How to find out morePlease contact Linda Pennet at lpennet@nhs.net or Debbie Munro at deborahmunro@nhs.net

To find out more about the Prostate Cancer UK professionals support programme visit prostatecanceruk.org/professional-support

UCAN Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurses

Case studyMr P is a 75 year old man who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He met with his consultant in Shetland and it was decide that Mr P would come to Aberdeen for radiotherapy treatment with adjuvant hormone therapy. He had received no written information regarding his treatment.

We met Mr P in the urological daycase ward when he attended his appointment. The admin staff who organise these appointments inform us of when patients who would benefit from our services would be attending the clinic so we can meet them and explain what services and support are available at the UCAN centre.

Following our meeting, Mr P attended the centre where it became clear he was having some difficulties in coming to terms with his diagnosis of prostate cancer. We talked through the psychological impact of his diagnosis and exactly what his treatment would involve. He was also given treatment information and support as well as practical advice such as where to stay during treatment. He was also given some written information regarding his hormone therapy and radiotherapy treatment, as well as recommended. Mr P reported feeling much more positive and better informed when he left the centre. He also said that he would bring his wife when he returned to Aberdeen for his radiotherapy treatment.

This case study is a good example ofhow UCAN can make a difference to the treatment experience of an individual and their family.

Prostate Cancer UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1005541) and in Scotland (SC039332). Registered company 2653887.