The Brain Tumour Charity welcomes this announcement as there is an ever growing need for cancer patients, including those with brain tumours, to be offered personalised and ongoing support when going through treatment and aftercare.
Brain tumours do not just impact people physically, they can affect every single part of a person’s life and it is vital that people are offered the emotional, psychological and financial support and care they need to give people the best possible quality of life.
Every brain tumour patient is different and this fund would offer tailored and personalised support for people from diagnosis onwards.
We know that brain tumour patients have significantly better outcomes when they have access to better support. That’s why we’re funding Clinical Nurse Specialists in a number of specialist brain tumour centres to ensure people have the best possible quality of life when having treatment and aftercare.
The results of the latest Scottish Cancer Patient Experience survey published in April this year showed that just over half of respondents (55%) felt they had been completely supported emotionally and psychologically by healthcare professionals during their cancer treatment. We hope this fund can ensure this figure increases year on year.
We look forward to working with the Scottish Government and Macmillan to ensure that brain tumour patients can access this newly funded support. We will be monitoring progress and impact as this should be a model the rest of the UK should adopt to ensure all brain tumour patients get the support they need and deserve.