Our Macmillan Head and Neck Cancer Team were  praised at the finals of the prestigious 2015 Macmillan Excellence Awards. 

This follows two awards for the team earlier this month. Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust’s Celebrating Success awards saw Michelle Beaumont, Lead Macmillan Head and Neck Cancer Specialist Nurse, named Leader of the Year, while the team scooped the “We Work Together to Get Results” title.

 Their work called Macmillan Head and Neck Cancer Redesign in West Yorkshire is aimed at delivering care for patients which is tailored to their needs while also giving them the support to be able to self-manage their condition and become less reliant on the healthcare system.

Redesign work involves our team togehter with colleagues at  Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust; Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Macmillan Regional Advisor for Service Redesign, Steve Edwards, said: “All four teams involved in Macmillan Head and Neck Cancer Redesign in West Yorkshire are doing tremendous work. Head and neck cancer is complex and each patient has different needs but the work being carried out by the teams is allowing local head and neck cancer patients to have support tailored to them.

“We know one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to care, so Macmillan and our NHS partners are working together to redesign the ways patients are supported through their cancer journey; from diagnosis, to treatment and beyond. We want head and neck cancer patients in West Yorkshire to feel empowered - to take back their independence and to have the best quality of life possible.”

At Calderdale and Huddesfield, new ways of working have included refinements to post-treatment support. This means the amount of time patients requiring enteral feeding - where nutrients are delivered direct to the stomach - has been reduced. A new role has also been created, a cancer care co-ordinator. This role has taken away admin tasks from the nursing staff, a dietitian and speech and language therapist in the head and neck team, giving them more time with patients.

Macmillan Dietitian with the team, Sarah Topen, said: “Head and neck cancer is a relatively rare but complex cancer, and we are seeing more and more people being diagnosed each year - in order to continue to provide high standards of care, developing new and innovative ways of working is vital. The project, supported by Macmillan, has allowed us to provide a service tailored to our patients’ needs, focus on their concerns, and maximise their rehabilitation. By developing the post of the cancer care co-ordinator we have highlighted the importance of considering new ways of working, and how these new roles can provide support to both the patients and team, allowing us to focus on what’s most important - time with our patients.”

More than 300 Macmillan professionals, as well as representatives from Macmillan and leading healthcare institutions, attended the Macmillan awards ceremony at The Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham earlier this month.