Landmark role established in charity and health sector working
The Prostate Cancer Charity has created the first ever prostate cancer Health Services Liaison Manager in recognition of the need to work collaboratively with the health service to improve health care for men with prostate cancer.
Nurse, Georgia Diebel, with thirteen years experience in the NHS and five years as a specialist nurse for The Prostate Cancer Charity, explains what she plans to achieve in the job:
“The Prostate Cancer Charity created this role because it wants people affected by prostate cancer to have access to the best services, treatment options and support which evidence suggests they don’t always get. For example, there was a particularly worrying report by the National Audit Office in 2005 which compared the four commonest cancers. It showed that prostate cancer patients reported a poorer experience of care than the other cancer patients questioned. It also found a great deal of variation in prostate cancer services around the country. This coupled with what we already knew from health sector colleagues, our national survey and the 14,000 calls we receive to our Helpline each year, demonstrated a need to take action.
“My job will enable me to work with health professionals in other organisations with the aim of improving prostate cancer services for men and their families. It is an exciting role and one where I believe we can strengthen the links between The Prostate Cancer Charity, the NHS and other health providers -bringing together the skills and expertise of clinical teams and the voluntary sector, offering men and their families the supportive care they deserve.”
John Neate, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “This is very important development. While the Charity has been dedicated to working closely with the NHS since it started in 1996, this new role marks a significant step forward in our commitment to doing this more systematically.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men, yet this is the first prostate cancer Health Service Liaison Manager to have been created, which says something about how far we have come but also how far we still have to go. I believe it is a landmark in charitable and health sector working.”
Georgia started her role as Health Services Liaison Manager in April 2007. Having managed the Charity’s Specialist Nurse Programme, a significant project which placed a number of prostate cancer specialist nurses in treatment centres in the UK, Georgia has direct experience of forging links between the Charity and the health sector. Her new role will involve visits to treatment centres, meeting clinical teams. She will also develop educational initiatives for health professionals to improve knowledge and understanding of prostate cancer.
Comparing her experience of charity and health sector working, Georgia said: “I wholeheartedly support the NHS and think many people do an excellent job, but I had reached a point in my life where I was ready for a new challenge. The Prostate Cancer Charity has enabled me to work creatively, developing my communication skills through working on the Helpline and producing key information literature for men and their families.
“I am really looking forward to generating new partnerships with clinical colleagues. We know that they value our services, but there is still a lot to be done to help men receive the best care possible across the UK. Prior to working for the Charity, I had very little understanding of what the voluntary sector can add to the experience of men with prostate cancer. Now I can work directly with NHS teams to ensure men and their families receive all the avenues of support and information available to them.”
To find out more about “The Real Man's Prostate Cancer Journey”, The Prostate Cancer Charity’s first national survey of the experiences of men with prostate cancer view: http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/news/features/survey_6.asp
To see The Prostate Cancer Charity comments at the time of publication of the National Audit Office view: http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/news/news_detail.asp?id=868
The full report is available through the NAO’s website: http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/04-05/0405288.pdf