The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has launched the UK's first medical training programme in supportive oncology, a specialist field that helps people with cancer to enjoy a better quality of life by managing symptoms and side-effects and reducing the risk of complications from treatment.
Dr Nicky Mendick has joined The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre as one of the UK's first ever Supportive Oncology Fellows as part of a national pilot.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has led the way nationally in providing enhanced supportive care (ESC) to proactively help patients at risk of severe pain, side-effects or complications during or after cancer treatment.
The award-winning specialist service includes experts in palliative care, dietitians, physiotherapists, psychological medicine and wellbeing, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. They work closely to help patients maintain the best possible quality of life and achieve the best possible treatment outcomes by reducing side-effects and complications.
What makes the new fellowship in supportive oncology so unique is that it provides specialist training in this area to doctors who do not usually work in a hospital or in cancer care. It means they can bring their knowledge of supportive oncology to help people with cancer in other settings including GP practices, hospices and community health services.
Dr Nicky Mendick trained as a GP but always had an interest in palliative and supportive care and spent three years working at the Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Chester before starting her fellowship in supportive oncology.
Her training in supportive oncology will involve three clinical placements over the year, together with academic study and a number of research projects. She has been spending her first placement with The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s acute oncology team in Aintree.
Her next rotation will be in psychological medicine at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Wirral and she will then spend time gaining in-depth knowledge of pain management with the palliative care team at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.
Dr Nicky Mendick, Senior Clinical Fellow in Supportive Oncology at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said:
I’ve always had an interest in palliative and supportive care because it’s holistic and you are really prioritising a patient’s own goals and what matters most to them. Working at Clatterbridge is completely different from what I was doing before but I am really enjoying it. I feel very lucky to be working with such a supportive and experienced palliative care team – they have been so welcoming.
I have also been learning so much from Dr Alia Alchawaf and the acute oncology team. I am really looking forward to the rest of my placements as well.
Dr Dan Monnery, Consultant in Palliative Care at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, and Chair of the UK Association for Supportive Care in Cancer’s enhanced supportive care working group, said:
This pilot is a very exciting initiative aimed at supporting people with cancer throughout every part of their care pathway. It will equip GPs and other doctors who do not specialise in cancer but play a key role in caring for people with cancer during or after treatment.
We are delighted to welcome Nicky to The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre as one of the UK’s first fellows in supportive oncology.
The fellowship is part of a national pilot programme aimed at equipping doctors caring for people with cancer across all areas of healthcare with specialist expertise and skills in supportive oncology.
The academic programme has been developed by the UK Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (UKASCC) and the Royal College of Radiologists.
Nicky is one of the first two doctors to join this new fellowship programme. The other is based at The Christie in Manchester.
