Personalised care and support

Giving patients more choice and control over their care

Personalised care means giving patients more choice and control over their care, based on what matters most to them as individuals.

Personalised cancer care is a partnership between people with cancer and their professional team.

It helps people access the care and support that meets their individual needs from the moment they receive their cancer diagnosis, supporting them to make decisions that help them live as full, healthy and active a life as possible.

This can include supporting people to access financial, emotional, psychological and social support, as well as providing them with information on managing their lifestyle, treatments and therapies available.

We are working to ensure that every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards. There are four parts to this work:

•   Personalised stratified follow-up
•   Personalised care interventions
•   Psychological support
•   Quality of life.

Screening and early diagnosis

Our screening and early diagnosis work focuses on breaking down barriers to increase the number of people who take up screening and raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer to reduce health and health care inequalities across Kent and Medway.

Faster diagnosis

The NHS Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) requires patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their GP for suspected cancer. For patients who are diagnosed with cancer, it means their treatment can begin as soon as possible. For those who are not, they can have their minds put at rest more…