Women with ovarian cancer are not getting access to specialist nurses, analysis by Target Ovarian cancer has shown.
Research from Public Health England, shows that two in five women with ovarian cancer reported that they did not have a named nurse they could contact with worries about their cancer care and 6% did not even know if they had one.
'It's extremely worrying that some women are not provided with the right support to help make their cancer journey easier. That's why we're calling for every woman with ovarian cancer to have access to a clinical nurse specialist,' said Sharon Tate, head of primary care development for Target Ovarian Cancer.
Nearly one in five (19 per cent) women with ovarian cancer said that they didn’t know who to contact if they had concerns about living with cancer.
Vickie Gadd, a clinical nurse specialist from Kent, said: 'Dealing with the constraints that the NHS presents is challenging to make sure that you are still able to effectively facilitate a smooth patient journey, but it is immensely rewarding to be able to communicate with people so that even at a time of real worry, you can ease their concern. I really enjoy talking to patients and their carers often about difficult subjects, and enabling them to leave the discussion with a better understanding of what may be happening and why.'
Target Ovarian Cancer is relaunching ahub for gynaecological cancer clincial nurse specialists to provide targeted information and guidance for nurses.