Clatterbridge's Dr Jessica Hale is on a mission to ensure that all cancer patients are as physically active as possible before and during treatment.
It is well known that the fitter a patient is, the more likely they are to respond better and faster to surgery – but what about the other elements of cancer treatment such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy or immunotherapy? Could fitness play a role here in better health outcomes?
Thanks to £40,000 of donor funding, this is what Jess aims to find out.
“Tiredness is one of the most frequent side effects reported by patients undergoing cancer treatment. We firmly believe that by increasing a patients levels of activity and fitness before their treatment, that we can reduce feelings of fatigue as well as improving a patient’s mental health and their quality of life.
Our funding will allow us to run a pilot project to test this theory. Over the next 12 months we will select and monitor 40 patients who are due to undergo immunotherapy treatment at Clatterbridge and they will be offered one to one fitness coaching from a specialist digital health team at Liverpool John Moores University.
It is fantastic that the Charity has chosen to support this project, we are very excited about how it might improve the lives of our patients.”
This project grant for Jessica and her team was made available through the Bright Ideas Fund, an initiative from Clatterbridge Cancer Charity which provides funding for new and innovative ideas which are brought forward by Clatterbridge staff who wish to improve the treatment or service they give.
This year the £150,000 fund has supported a number of different projects (big and small) across the Clatterbridge service, including providing a special entertainment system for patients who are undergoing spinal procedures and are unable to sit up and funding a project to better understand the circumstances which lead to cancer patients requiring unplanned emergency admission to hospital.
