Welcome to the April 2024 update of the London Cancer caregiver group. This is the only carer forum I run that focuses on a physical health illness, which is Cancer. The forum is carer led and provides a space and platform for carers to be heard and to find support.
This group runs on the last wednesday of the month as all other days at booked for the mental health carer groups. Since I am a volunteer with Macmillan Cancer Support and part of NHS England Cancer Improvement Collaborative, I often try to run the group to engage with cancer caregivers.
The group is smaller than my other mental health carer groups, but it has support from the Acute hospitals in London including Guys & St Thomas, Greenwich & Lewisham NHS trust, Kings College Hospital, University College London hospitals, Kingston Hospital, St Georges Univeristy hospital and more.
I am very grateful for the support of the NHS and Macmillan as we seek cancer caregiver empowerment.
April update of Cancer Carer forum
As usual I always welcome carers to connect at the start of the group. Most times I listen to carer feedback depending on their experiences. We welcome new and verteran carers.
The next session was on carer intevention. It is important families and carers are counted and supported, but also listened to.
So I was glad Gunn Grande, Emerita Professor of Palliative Care at the University of Manchester, plus Dr Gail Ewing from the University of Cambridge. The researchers presented on the “Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool Intervention” as known as CSNAT for short
Carers were interested in what interventions practitioners and health professionals can learn to support families and carers better. Sometimes the needs and support of carers are not always apparent.
Taken from the CSNAT website. “CSNAT-I is an intervention for supporting carers (family members/friends in an unpaid supportive role), delivered using a five-stage person-centred process of assessment and support. The intervention uses an evidence-based, comprehensive tool (the CSNAT) comprising 15 domains (broad areas of support need).”
Professor Gunn presented on why carer intervention is so important. She also asked if any of the following themes presented themselves when engaging with carers
Prof Gunn then described the 5 stages of the CSNAT tool, which the practictioner needs to go through with the caregiver.
- Introduce CSNAT-I
- Carer considers needs
- Assessment conversation
- Shared action plan
- Shared review
The group got to ask quite a few questions on CSNAT and we were delighted that the researchers had time for caregivers.
If you are a health professional dealing with families and carers who care for someone with cancer, you can find more information off the website below.
A Caring Mind 