National Cancer Survivorship Initiative

Results so far

 First interim evaluation report – September 2010 identified five themes –

a)    Patients want attention to be paid to work issues at an early stage in their illness, and then revisited during the course of treatment and follow-up.

b)    Health professionals inadvertently give patients mixed messages about work.

c)    Line managers are a key point of contact between patients and employers, and do not necessarily have the knowledge and skill to manage a patient’s return to work effectively.

d)    Patients are not generally knowledgeable about their rights and responsibilities relating to employment.

e)    Specialist vocational rehabilitation services can predict and pre-empt problems that patients might not (yet) be aware of.

 Second interim evaluation report – June 2011 identified six key findings –

1. A three level model works better than the initially identified four level model. We propose adaptations to the NCSI Risk Stratification Model to distinguish (i) service providers, (ii) service recipients and (iii) interventions at each of three levels of need and complexity.
2. It is useful to distinguish between ‘work support’ for people with cancer, and ‘vocational rehabilitation’. Everyone with a cancer diagnosis who is employed or who has the potential to be employed should receive support to remain in or return to work. A subset of people with cancer will have complex needs which are best met by a specialist vocational rehabilitation service where the intervention is provided by skilled vocational rehabilitation professionals.
3. We have identified a specific skill set required by individuals who provide specialist cancer vocational rehabilitation to people with complex employment needs. While there is some overlap with skills needed to deliver vocational rehabilitation in other health conditions, there are important elements that are highly specific to cancer.
4. Individuals providing specialist cancer vocational rehabilitation services are likely to need training to ensure that they have the requisite skills. No cancer-specific vocational rehabilitation training programme currently exists.
5. There is a very wide spectrum of individuals and organisations with an interest in the work support and vocational rehabilitation needs of people with cancer. While there is broad agreement on the overall aim of work support and vocational rehabilitation services in cancer – i.e. to enable people with cancer to remain in or return to work where that is their wish – there are differences in emphasis and in the priorities of the various stakeholders.

3. The term ‘vocational rehabilitation’ is not widely understood, and the needs and preferences of the particular audience being addressed should be considered when communicating about cancer work support and vocational rehabilitation.

 The third evaluation report will be published in October 2011 and the final report in February 2012.

 Currently over 500 people have made use of VR services.   So far we have learned an extraordinary amount regarding what works and what makes a VR Service effective and successful.  This includes identification of key stakeholders, importance of local and regional networks, most valued interventions, best locations and indications of volume of people who would wish to access a Work Support/VR Service. 

 For further information contact

Lyn Bruce,

Vocational Rehabilitation Project Manager,

Tel 01544 319115

Lbruce@macmillan.org.uk

Last updated on September 26, 2011