The Greater Manchester Cancer Podcast

This is a special episode of the GM Cancer podcast, celebrating the role of Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) working in cancer care. AHPs are the third largest professional group within the NHS workforce made up of 14 diverse roles, including Occupational Therapists, Therapeutic Radiographers and Speech and Language Therapists.

In this episode, host Steve Bland and guests explore the journey into a specialist AHP role, raise awareness of Cancer specialist AHPs, empower AHPs to become specialists, highlight career opportunities and show how being a specialist AHP is so very, very rewarding.

Steve's guests are:

Siobhan Doherty – Project Support Officer – GM Cancer Alliance – Workforce & Education Team
Lindsay Sudell - Specialist AHP in Brain and CNS Tumour Rehabilitation
Ian Dempsey and Joanne Shaw – Ian is a neuro patient with a positive experience of his treatment throughout his long-term diagnosis. Joanne is Ian's wife and also joined the podcast. 

In celebration of National AHP Day on 14th October 2024, GM Cancer is promoting the roles of Specialist Allied Health Professionals working in cancer care in Greater Manchester. Find out more here.

The Alliance has a range of educational offerings and ways to get involved on the day.

• A toolkit with assets to support on your social media channels.
• A Greater Manchester Cancer Academy webinar ‘Allied Health Professionals in Cancer Webinar: Enhancing your Four Pillars of Practice’ on 14th October at 12:00 –13:00. Register your place.
• And this podcast!

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at social prescribing. Social prescribing is help that doesn’t come in a pill, tube or bottle! Instead, it connects people to activities, groups and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs affecting their health and wellbeing. For example, you might feel happier and healthier if you get out for a regular walk with others, do something creative, volunteer or have a say on the things that matter to you and your local community.

Sometimes is easy to do these things. But sometimes you might need a little help to find out more about the support and opportunities out there! That’s where social prescribing comes in. Social prescribing is free and confidential and you can find out more here!

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at the Cancer Care Review (CCR), a conversation between a patient and their primary care team about their cancer journey. The CCR is patient led, meaning it is a discussion about things that are important to the patient, and may cover things like their understanding of the diagnosis and the treatment so far, any symptoms they have been struggling with either as an effect of the cancer or the treatment, what support they have or may need, and how best the primary care team can support them as they continue on their cancer journey. It is a holistic review, focusing not only on physical symptoms but on the psychological, social, financial, and other impacts of cancer.

The guests on this episode are:
Tracey Cowburn - Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinator, Denton, Audenshaw & Droylsden PCN
Dr Steve Churchill - GP in Trafford and Former Personalised Care Lead for Primary Care

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at genomics - what does it mean and more importantly, how does it help our patients? We also explore the difference between somatic and germline mutations and how they impact cancer care, and how we make sure all patients have access to genomic testing.

The guests on this episode are:
Dr Matthew Krebs, Cancer Genomics Lead, NorthWest Genomics Laboratory Hub
Steph Gooder, Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse, Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust 

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at Treatment Summaries, a document given to patients to alleviate their concerns and help them feel more confident discussing their own treatment with their GPs.

The guests on this episode are:
Helen Wrench - Macmillan NCA lead nurse for personalised care for cancer
Sarah Sykes - lead Macmillan colorectal nurse based at the Oldham Care Organisation
Jacqueline Jackson - patient

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at Personalised Stratified Follow-ups – what are they? And why are they so important to patients and their families?

If you want to find out more information about Personalised Stratified Follow-up, click here.

The guests on this episode are:
Chelliah Selvasekar - Colorectal Consultant and Laparoscopic Surgeon 
Paula Harrison - Colorectal Nurse Specialist, NCA  
Brian Stott – patient rep

In the latest episode in our series looking at cancer in the news, host Steve Bland and Susi Penney, the Associate Medical Director at GM Cancer and a consultant head and neck surgeon at MFT, cast their eyes over the stories making the headlines in March/April 2024.

Once again there's plenty to discuss, with the death of campaigner and Coppafeel founder Kris Hallenga, the call from CRUK and the family of Dame Deborah James for a new national cancer strategy, as well as good news as NHS England announced that cancer checks have topped three million in a year for the first time. Steve and Susi also discussed the use of vaccines in cancer treatment.

Find out more about the GM Cancer Alliance here.

Personalised care is fundamental to delivering better quality care that is meaningful to the individual, supporting improvements in health and wellbeing. This will also help to empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Everyone is different and will have different concerns when they are diagnosed with cancer; therefore we need to ensure that patients are treated as people and they have the opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, whether during a hospital appointment or with their GP, and get the support they need.

In Greater Manchester, we have a large programme of work looking at all aspects of personalised care, and this new series of the GM Cancer Podcast will look at some of the specific areas that we’re working on. 

This episode looks at Holistic Needs Assessments – what are they and why are they so important? 

In this episode you will hear from:
Lydia Briggs - Clinical Lead for Personalised Care - Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance
Collette Kelly - Macmillan Lead for Personalised Cancer Care at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust  
Mick Connelly - patient rep

In the first of a new monthly series looking at cancer in the news, host Steve Bland and Professor Matt Evison, the Associate Medical Director at GM Cancer, cast their eyes over the stories making the headlines in the first two months of 2024.

And it's been a busy one, with the news of the King's diagnosis, Olympian Chris Foy reluctantly revealing he had been receiving treatment, the death of tv chef Dave Myers, and groundbreaking research projects including a new national BRCA gene testing programme and a new bowel cancer screening programme for people with Lynch Syndrome.

Steve and Matt discuss the impact of celebrities going public with a diagnosis as well as the challenges in keeping the awareness message going.

Find out more about the GM Cancer Alliance here.
Bowel Cancer Screening in England is in the process of expanding to eventually be available to everyone over 50.
BRCA screening programme: J-BRCA (nhsjewishbrcaprogramme.org.uk) 

In the fourth episode of a series dedicated to exploring the health inequalities that exist in our cancer system in Greater Manchester, host Steve Bland and guests discuss how deprivation impacts cancer outcomes in the region, explore the issues around deprivation and health and ask, why does deprivation play such a big role in creating health inequalities?

Steve's guests in this episode are:
Gemma Knox, an Advanced Nurse Practioner at the Glodwick Medical Practice

Dr Mary Marshall, a GP at the Village Medical Practice

Dan Clark, Health Inequalities Project Manager, GM Cancer Alliance

Links from this series:

AskDoc Bowel Cancer Screening - YouTube
Breast Cancer Now information about breast screening-  https://breastcancernow.org/about-breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-scans/breast-screening/
Jo’s Trust information about cervical screening - https://www.jostrust.org.uk/information/cervical-screening/what-is-cervical-screening
Bowel Cancer UK information about bowel screening - https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-bowel-cancer/screening/
Bee Seen Get Screened - https://www.answercancergm.org.uk/bee-seen/ 

People First (Tameside)
GM Cancer Alliance