FOUR new Macmillan support workers at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital are helping to deliver improved cancer care for patients with breast, prostate and bowel cancer.

The new team works helps patients identify and address concerns about how their cancer diagnosis has affected them and how they can address those issues.

Macmillan is funding the support worker posts for two years at a total cost of around £175,000, including salaries, on-costs and other costs associated with the roles.

Karen Collyer, one of the new workers who supports prostate cancer patients and has worked in the NHS in Gloucestershire for eight years, said: “Having a cancer diagnosis is not just about treatment.

"It affects your whole life and those around you. For example older men might be caring for someone and this can affect them getting to radiotherapy appointments.

"We help them sort out practical issues like this that surface when you talk about how cancer is impacting their life."

Debra Crebbin, who supports breast cancer patients, worked in the NHS since 2007. She lost an uncle to cancer two years ago.

She said: “It was difficult to find support at that time so when I saw this job advertised I realised that was just what was needed to help people at a very difficult time for them.”

The four new support worker posts are part of Macmillan's Living With And Beyond Cancer Programme aimed at delivering improved care for cancer patients.