There are many parts of the UK without easy access to an active support group for bladder cancer patients. We are working to change that.
If you are thinking about setting up a support group (perhaps you are a health professional such as a cancer nursing specialist at a main hospital) there are some short tips on what to consider on the Advice and Tips page.
Contact us for advice on setting up a new patient support group.
However, if you actively interested in starting a group, we can offer more detailed advice and constructive help - we can help with making any necessary contacts and in engaging the right people at your local major hospital, we can give you lots of help and guidance with the admin of starting a group, we can make a visit and talk about how you can get started and share ideas and best practice, and provide information materials. We're here to provide advice and help as you go along.
If you would like to talk about how ABC UK can help you with setting up a bladder cancer patient support group, please get in touch with us on groups@actionbladdercanceruk.org.
ABC UK Speakers
If your group is already running and you would like a representative of ABC UK to come and be a speaker at one of your meetings, get in touch. We'd be delighted to come and talk about our work - and to ask your group members what they would like us to do for them, and to talk about how patients can get more involved with ABC UK. We're always happy to talk to existing groups about how we can work together and what ABC UK can do to help support groups.
Contact us on groups@actionbladdercanceruk.org
|
Advice and Tips |
|
|
Living with bladder cancer can be challenging - and some patients (and their partners or carer) can find it helpful to find the support of others with bladder cancer through attending a group. Are you interested in setting up a bladder cancer patient support group (PSG) but not sure where to start? Setting up a group needn't be difficult and ABC UK are keen to help both patients and nurses to start a group in their area. If you're interested in starting a new group, do get in touch, and one of our team will get back to you. We can give direct help, with detailed advice and support, and give you face to face advice. We can also provide on-going support and guidance, and give one to one assistance to potential group leaders. If you already have a group, and would like us to provide a speaker for a group session - we'd be very happy to come along and talk about the work of ABC UK, our plans and how we can work together. It's important to us to hear from bladder cancer patients about what we can do to help them, and we're keen to involve patient groups in our work. If you would like to link up with other groups, let us know and we can also help with that, and we're happy to help publicise your group meetings and events. We're here to help every step of the way to make it a positive experience for you and your patients... We can also offer small grants to help with start-up costs or one-off costs. Contact us if you would like more details about our work with patient support groups or if we can help. "All the patients at the group have said to me (outside the meetings) how valuable they find being able to ask any questions about their own treatment - the rest of the group also benefit from the answers and explanations give, it's very much a learning process for them all. We're lucky to have our local CNS and urologist support the group as well, which really encourages people to come along." Jenny Akins, Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Wolverhampton NHS Trust, set up her Support Group back in 2011. Some things to think about if you would like to start a support group The following are some of the key areas you might want to think about if you are considering setting up a bladder cancer patient support group. Don't forget, we can help you with all of these points and provide lots more guidance too.
|
Follow us:
