There are a number of other services available to support people in Fife with incurable cancer.
In this section, we highlight services available in Fife for those affected by cancer. These include: Maggie’s, the Macmillian Improving Cancer Journey (ICJ) service and our own Children and Families Support service. We also look at the benefits of spiritual support, cover help with planning and consider putting your affairs in order.
Click on the blue boxes below for further information.
Counselling and therapy allow people to explore conscious and unconscious thoughts. This helps them work through issues causing concern or distress. Counselling helps people gain insight into their feelings. It helps them understand their reactions and develop strategies for coping with the changes an illness brings to them and their families.
Counselling in Fife is available for people affected by cancer. You can access a range of services. These include Maggie’s and Fife Specialist Palliative Care.
Your GP, district nurse and cancer CNS can let you know which service may be most helpful for you. They can also refer you to the most appropriate service. This can be for the person with cancer. It can also be for their relatives and carers, including in bereavement.
Fife specialist palliative care has a Children and Families’ Support Service. They provide support, information and advice for people with cancer, their partners and co-parents, children, stepchildren and young people facing the death of a parent or adult caregiver. They also provide support in bereavement.
Parents may have to help their children understand the illness affecting them. The child will need to adjust to their ill parent's reduced abilities. They will also have to prepare them to say goodbye. Common concerns explored include:
This team can help the patient to put together written or recorded material to leave for the family. They can also offer information and support to young people and to children. Support can start or continue at any point during the bereavement process. This can happen through individual and family counselling and bereavement groups.
Any healthcare professional involved in your care can refer you to this service. They can do so by calling Fife specialist palliative care.
Spiritual Care helps people to find, or re-find, meaning, purpose and hope at any stage of life or illness. Spiritual Care is for everyone, not only religious people. Faith and belief are one of many different ways that people make sense of the world. Chaplains can help facilitate religious care if that is helpful. They are available to everyone, including those with no religious faith.
All healthcare professionals provide spiritual care as part of caring for them. Chaplains can help fellow healthcare professionals provide care. They can serve as a peer resource. They can also offer specialist to support to patients.
When our spiritual needs are met, it’s often described as being at peace. Being at peace about how things are doesn’t mean we like what’s happening or wouldn’t want things to be different. Rather, that we’ve come to terms with things and are living well in the moment.
Any healthcare professional can refer you or your close person for Spiritual Care support. There are a range of services on offer, including a small team of healthcare chaplains based primarily at Victoria, Queen Margaret and Stratheden hospitals. There is also a Community Listening Service and Macmillan Improving the Cancer Journey Link Worker support.
This is sometimes called Anticipatory Care Planning, or ACP.
When you, a family member, or someone you care for is affected by incurable cancer, it can help to plan for the future.
Many people wish to plan ahead, even although the future may be uncertain. It is often helpful to think about what is important to you and talk about this with the people close to you.
Thinking about your answers to the following questions can help when you talk with healthcare professionals about your care:
If you feel you don't know enough about your illness or how things might change with time, talk to a professional. They can help. It is almost impossible to predict exactly how you will change with time. However, some features of advancing cancer are very common. Most people find it helpful to talk through these. Usually, the more people understand, the more able they are to think and plan ahead.
Some people find it reassuring to make plans and know they have sorted things out for the future. Examples of this is include:
You may want to consider appointing a Power of Attorney (POA). This means choosing a person to make decisions for you if you are no longer able. This can be emotional, but talking about your wishes can make it easier for your family or loved ones. You will all know how and where you would like to be cared for at the end of your life. We know that people who can plan ahead are more likely to have the care they want when they become less well. For many people, this involves spending less time in hospital and more time at home.
Home is where most people with advanced illness spend most of their time. It is also where most people would choose to be. As time goes on, people's needs change. To be comfortable at home, they may need to accept help. This may be in the form of equipment, or carers coming into your home. Nurses, doctors, and others may also visit you at home. They can help manage your symptoms or provide wider support.
Sometimes being at home becomes too difficult. An admission to a care home, hospital, or hospice is needed. This may or may not be a permanent move. Often it may be for a period of assessment. It is helpful to think about whether you would be open to this. Consider your options with your team, in case your situation changes. There is always some uncertainty about how you and your needs will change. It can be helpful to keep an open mind about what your care might need to look like in the future.
Consider what brings you pleasure in life, in addition to your health needs. Most people can maintain a reasonable quality of life as their cancer advances. However, life might look and feel very different than before.
Please remember that you are not alone. You and your family and carers are entitled to feel informed, cared for, and supported.
Improving the Cancer Journey (ICJ) is a service available to all people affected by cancer within Fife. The service offers people a holistic assessment. It discusses "what matters to you" at significant points in their cancer journey. It provides dedicated support to all people affected by cancer including families and carers. Support includes financial, emotional, and practical help. It also includes liaising with healthcare teams when needed.
Support is available Monday to Friday, 9–5pm
Website for more information: Fife Macmillan | Fife Health and Social Care
Phone: 03451 551 500
Email address: Improving.CancerJourney@fife.gov.uk
