Sheffield Cancer Services Advisory Group/Sheffield Breast Care Support Group in Sheffield-UK

IMPORTANT NEWS !!!!

It is with Regret to inform you that the Sheffield Breast Care Support Group will close on the 25th February 2008.

All Members will be kept informed as to what is happening, but it is business as usual until the end of February 2008.

Sheffield Breast Care Support Group
Office at:
3rd Floor
Yorkshire Bank Chambers
Fargate
Sheffield
S1 2HD
Tel: 0114-2799442

Sheffield Breast Care Support Group (SBCSG) are a group of women who have come together following breast surgery to offer emotional support and friendship to each other.
Anyone is welcome, whether partner, friend or relative and men and women.

© Elvina Lee (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)

Sheffield Cancer Services Advisory Group

Sheffield Cancer Services Advisory Group
Find out more about us
Who are we
Sheffield Cancer Services Advisory Group (SCSAG) are a group of patients and carers and local health workers interested in improving the experience for people living with cancer and the services available to them.

Our aim
To ensure that the health services in Sheffield take into account the views and experiences of its users in order to improve the user experience of cancer services.

What we do
•Give voice to the views of people with cancer and their families and friends

•Advise the health services about cancer care in Sheffield from the users’ point of view
•Work with health professionals to develop services
•Look for opportunities to improve cancer services
•Work with self-help groups
•Hold regular meetings
•Maintain this website - www.sheffield.nhs.uk/scsag
What we don’t do
•Act as a support group
•Deal with complaints
If you want to find out more about support groups contact:
The Cancer Support Centre
23 Northumberland Road
Sheffield S10 2TY
Tel: 0114 226 5666

If you have concerns, grumbles, or queries about your care contact the relevant Patient Advice and Liaison
Service.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
0114 271 2450

NHS Sheffield
0800 085 7539
www.sheffield.nhs.uk/pals

How do you get involved?
•You can become a member of the group
•You can give us your views on how to improve cancer care services
•You can join a network of people and comment on the issues we are discussing
•You can act as link between the Advisory Group and your self-help or support group
•You can become a user representative on a Health Service Group
•You can do as much or as little as you wish
How do we work?
•We meet monthly as a group to discuss current topics and support each other in the work of user involvement
•We work to ensure that key groups and committees responsible for cancer care in Sheffield have user representation reminding the health professionals of the value of their work and keeping a patient-centred focus.
•We are also asked our opinion about proposals to change services and about priorities for funding.
•We are part of the North Trent Partnership Group, which brings together groups like ours from across the Cancer Network; including Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Bassetlaw, and Chesterfield as well as Sheffield. The Partnership group makes sure that decisions made at Network level also take into account users’ views.
What have we achieved?
Everything we have achieved has been done in partnership with others.

We:

•worked in partnership with the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to produce the booklet “Your Guide to Cancer Services in Sheffield”
•worked in partnership with specialist nurses and the head of Patient Services to produce the booklet “Talking to Patients about Cancer” for staff
•used the strength of our user voice to support the case for opening the support and information centre in Sheffield; contributing to the establishment of the Cancer Support Centre
•developed taped consultations in partnership with Weston Park Hospital and are now looking to roll this out across the rest of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
•worked with the Sheffield Palliative Care Committee to develop a service for Lymphoedema patients (top of their wish list)
•initiated the discussions that led to establishing the Consumer Research Panel, the first of its kind in the country
•participated in the development of a supportive and palliative care strategy, designed to ensure that future Sheffield cancer patients will all have access to supportive care including good information and communication, psychological and spiritual support, social and family support, rehabilitation, complementary therapies and palliative care.
•contributed to the development of a user involvement implementation plan for all cancer services across Sheffield.
Who are our members?
Our members are cancer patients, people who have cared for cancer patients at home and people who work in the health service who support user involvement.

Anyone who has had experience of cancer can help us by using their experiences, good and bad and helping services to understand all the different experiences and different things that can happen along the cancer journey.

There is so much to take in working with the complexities of cancer and it often helps to focus the mind on three key elements: your own personal experience of cancer, the views of other cancer patients, and the way in which improvements in the health service come about.

Attendance at every meeting is not essential; we understand that this is not always possible. Some people contribute by being on a mailing list and commenting on documents sent to them