It is not by accident that the theme of the August edition is cancer care – it’s not cancer research, or cancer breakthroughs. It’s care – and it is being delivered every single day, by every single doctor and bench boffin travelling the path alongside a person with cancer.
By some mystical hand or simply lucky spins of the Russian roulette wheel, my experience of cancer care has been as an observer when a loved one is told they have some insanely hideous cancer that will kill them.
In my two closest encounters of cancer treatment, the first was hopeless, the second is ongoing. In both, the care was and is exceptional.
Perhaps it’s the diagnosis of cancer itself that flips a switch. I witnessed our GP move from jovial guardian, to a martial sentinel, speedily gathering as much evidence to expedite that appointment with a specialist. The hospital bedside visits, the counselling to near and dear that GPs and oncologists do so well, was Care and it meant the world.
Yes, there are drug trials and the cutting-edge technology which allows these practitioners to offer treatments that have greater efficacy, but it is their care and their ability to look into a patient’s eyes and tell them that they will do everything they can that holds the healing magic.
Recently, I have watched the phenomenon that is Charlie’s Cancer Centre as a family member takes on melanoma.
As a journalist, we hear lots of talk of dysfunctional and over-stretched health systems that are taking their toll on patient outcomes and those who work within it. Yes, there is truth there,
but that doesn’t take into account the thousands of people who are triaged through the emergency system and into treatment and then home again every day.
In our case, it was triaged and fast-tracked to the Cancer Centre where neurosurgeons, meet medical oncologists, meet radiation oncologists – and a patient and their family who are truly cared for.
Hells bells – the staff at the Cancer Centre actually communicate, not just with patients, but with each other AND practitioners … in OTHER hospitals. There is not just care on offer but coordinated care.
Now I can’t speak for their ability to keep patients’ GPs in the loop, that might tip into Rainbow Unicorns territory, but even in those insanely busy places that treat such high volumes of people, they have time to talk with patients AND their families, and if necessary, explain to them again the next day if concern or confusion still reigns.
Yes, there are drug trials and the cutting-edge technology which allows these practitioners to offer treatments that have greater efficacy, but it is their care and their ability to look into a patient’s eyes and tell them that they will do everything they can that holds the healing magic.