“Why the f*** would I want a sandwich?” exclaimed an elderly man as his daughter pushed his wheelchair towards the overpriced coffee shop at the cancer hospital.
After telling him she thought it would be a nice thing to have, they settled on him getting a cake.
I think about that pair often. In some ways it was an amusing exchange as people don’t usually react that way when friends or family suggest purchasing a pre-packed meal of meat and lettuce between two bits of bread.
But it also shows the need for more mental health support for cancer patients like him and me.
They were both waiting for his cancer appointment and struggling with how their roles in life had been reversed – with her now trying to provide for him, and being the one to ensure he was happy and on time to meet with doctors. And they were both clearly struggling with how cancer had made him ill.
It is to help families like theirs that at the Daily Express we are launching a campaign to get more mental health support for cancer patients.
The NHS says that when people are diagnosed with cancer they should undergo a holistic needs assessment. This involves answering questions about what a patient is worried about, whether that be losing their hair, not being able to afford to pay for things, losing their job and so on, and this then forms the basis of a personal care plan.
This is a great idea. But it isn’t something I was ever offered in my so-called ‘world class’ hospital and I haven’t seen any evidence so far that it is widely used across the NHS. I haven’t managed to find anyone so far who has had an assessment.
Instead, when I was diagnosed, I was told counselling was available through Macmillan Cancer Support but was advised that the waiting list was approximately 18 months. This made me wonder when to get on the list as it’s a case of trying to predict when my cancer will become terminal, as I think I’ll need support then.
At the Daily Express we think all cancer patients should be given the option of having a holistic needs assessment, so they can have a personal care plan that reflects their needs, both physically and mentally.
It’s also important for the medical teams to realise that mental health issues are one of the biggest side effects that people will face.
Sometimes my physical side-effects are such that I have to cancel or postpone meeting up with friends. This affects me mentally far more than it does physically.
Sometimes I spend hours late at night thinking about what life will be like once my cancer becomes terminal or, fingers crossed, if a surgeon ever decides to do an operation. These thoughts about different futures affect me mentally far more than they do physically.
But my medical team isn’t aware of any of this because they never ask, and there isn’t a place to log this kind of information. And they always seem scared to ask how I’m doing.
They are focused on whether my blood results mean my body is physically well-enough to cope with another cycle of chemotherapy, not how I am coping mentally.
But cancer is the hardest thing most people will ever deal with in their lifetime. The disease and the treatment punishes people both mentally and physically.
And this is why at the Daily Express we are calling for all cancer hospitals to make a slight change to how they treat patients. It is very small and won’t cost much, if any, money to do but will definitely improve the lives of people going through the terrible disease.
When patients have a consultation with their medical team they are asked questions about the physical side effects they are experiencing, including have they had any nausea or vomiting, have they had any falls, any diarrhoea and so on.
We want a question about mental health to be added to this list. If patients are asked about this then any issues they are experiencing can be picked up early, and they can be referred to support groups or counsellors or psychologists. And, crucially, it will mean that medical teams start treating patients as people with issues, rather than just seeing them as a series of test results on their computer system.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the slight change will improve the lives of those who are struggling to communicate how they are feeling, so wrap up their pain in a question about having a sandwich.
It will also save the lives of those whose diagnosis has plunged them into a pit of depression and despair, and are considering suicide as a way out.
It’s time for the NHS and the Department for Health and Social Care to back the campaign by instructing hospitals to make these changes to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families across the UK.