In-DEPTH: Personalised Care Planning for People with Cancer

13 August 2021

Macmillan and Guy’s Cancer Academy have launched a new online learning resource designed to build on the Macmillan Cancer Support programme ‘What Matters to Me?’ and to support staff who are involved in conducting consultations with patients, following their holistic needs assessment, to agree their plan of care. This learning package was co-designed and developed with the Innovative co-Design and Evaluation of care Plan Training and education for Holistic needs (‘InDEPTH’) Advisory Group and workshop participants, led by UKONS president and Head of Guy’s Cancer Academy Dr Verna Lavender. It was funded by Macmillan Cancer Support.

Macmillan Cancer Support have published a range of resources about holistic needs assessments and how to use their proforma, whether that is a printed copy of the holistic needs assessment (HNA) form or the electronic copy (eHNA) using the My Care Plan website. The In-DEPTH learning package will link to some of Macmillan Cancer Support’s HNA resources, but their content will not be duplicated in this learning package. 

 On completion of this course, attendees will be able to-:

• Understand the purpose and benefits of a patient-held, personalised care and support plan following a HNA
• With reference to models of personalised, holistic and multidisciplinary care, demonstrate knowledge and skills to explore needs and concerns with a person with and/or being treated for cancer
• Effectively communicate with people with and/or being treated for cancer, assessing their individual need for information
• Apply specialist knowledge of cancer symptoms, treatment, side effects, late effects and supportive care to identify actions that might apply to more than one need or concern for an individual, to inform discussions to prioritise planned care
• Work in partnership with a person with and/or being treated for cancer to write a care plan following completion of a holistic needs assessment
• Be aware of the limitations of their own knowledge and skills and be able to signpost and refer patients to other health professionals and specialist services, including the needs and concerns of an individual that are not related to their cancer, e.g. pre-existing needs and concerns
• Use example case studies to develop knowledge and skills to create personalised care plans

This important and useful resource is currently hosted on the Guy’s Cancer Academy website but will also be accessible on the Macmillan Cancer Support Learning System in the near future. 

UKONS members should feel free to share the link to access directly and add the link to your own organisation’s websites if this is desirable. https://learning.guyscanceracademy.co.uk/personalised-care-planning/#/