A pioneering service that supports patients experiencing side effects of cancer treatment is celebrating its five year anniversary.
The Specialist Immunotherapy Toxicity Service (SIOTS) at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was established in 2018 and was the first service of its kind in the UK.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is the country’s largest provider of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, an effective cancer treatment used to treat an increasing number of cancers including skin cancer, lung cancers, kidney cancers and more recently some breast cancers.
The SIOTS specialises in educating teams to identify toxicity early and then support patients receiving treatment for the potentially serious side effects of immunotherapy. They also provide advice and guidance to teams around the region to help ensure treatment is effective no matter where people are cared for.
The service is important because it allows more patients to stay well whilst going through their cancer treatment and supports those who do get side effects so they are often less severe, with fewer negative impacts on the patient than there could be otherwise. Side effects of treatment comes from activating the immune system with the aim of treating the cancer but unfortunately can lead to inflammation of other organs and can cause issues including diarrhoea, liver problems, heart issues and problems with a patients’ eyes.
Spotting the signs of these side effects early also means patients are less likely to be admitted to hospital.
Since the service was established in 2018, the team have cut hospital admissions for immunotherapy patients by 40% and supported over 1,950 patients who were experiencing side effects from their treatment.
The service can mostly be conducted over the phone, with a team of expert nurses providing advice and guidance to patients. This allowed the service to continue, uninterrupted, during the COVID19 pandemic.
The team also provides education and training to other healthcare professionals across the country, increasing knowledge and awareness of the signs and symptoms of toxicities from immunotherapy.
Trudy Guinan, Immunotherapy Nurse Consultant at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “Because The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is the leading provider of immunotherapy in the country, it was important that we established a service to support patients who might experience side effects – and so our service was born.
“I’m really proud that we’ve helped hundreds of patients over the years to live longer, healthier lives through our service. Our aim for the future is to continue to provide the very best service to our patients and also build on our Education Strategy so we can train fellow healthcare professionals locally and around the country to be able to identify and treat the signs and symptoms of toxicities.”
Dr Anna Olsson-Brown, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, is the clinical lead for the service. She added: “I’m incredibly proud of this service and all the team who provide such amazing care to our patients.
“Experiencing side-effects from your treatment can be really unsettling and is a worrying time – but our expert team aim to keep patients as well as possible so they get the most out of their treatment and improve the overall outcome. Immunotherapy is a very effective cancer treatment – we see a number of patients with no trace of cancer after they finish their course. However getting the best from treatment can only happen if teams work together and both the cancer and the side effects are treated successfully. The Specialist Immunotherapy Toxicity team works alongside the oncology teams at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre to ensure people get effective treatment for their toxicities and supports them to continue treatment where possible. This work is vital and this amazing team make that possible.”
(Top Image: Members of the SIOTS Team celebrating their first anniversary in 2019)
(Second image: Nick Garbutt, Immunotherapy Project Support Manager, Trudie Guinan, Immunotherapy Nurse Consultant, and Dr Anna Olsson Brown, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, at a recent Immunotherapy Eduction Day)
