Existing funding ran out at the beginning of this month (March) but with the new monies having been made immediately available, it means there will be no break to the service.
Patients and their carers – either family members or friends – can request up to six no cost sessions at either an holistic therapy studio in Preston or within the cancer unit at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.
Holistic and oncology massage therapist Krista Chadwick said: “Patients and those going through the cancer treatment journey alongside them are often very emotional and so incredibly grateful for the service. In it, they find respite and the strength to stay positive. Some patients also feel it helps them cope better with treatment side-effects.”
Data Krista collated last year (January 2024 to December 2024), shows that 150 cancer patients and 13 carers from across PR postcodes took up the offer of the funded complementary therapy. Of these, 124 were female and 39 male and they ranged in age from their 20s to their 80s.
Most of the patients (97) who requested complementary therapy were undergoing chemotherapy at the time of their sessions but patients undergoing radiotherapy (54) and immunotherapy (26) also took up the service.
Breast cancer was the most common cancer among those requesting sessions (diagnosed in 36 of the patients) followed by ovarian cancer (14 patients), lung cancer (13 patients) and bowel cancer (12 patients).
Patients with cervical cancer, leukaemia and other blood cancers, prostate, liver, skin, stomach, pancreatic, head and neck and brain cancers were also treated.
Sue Swire, fundraising manager for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, said: “There is a huge amount of documented evidence highlighting the many benefits of complementary therapies in people undergoing cancer treatment. It has reached the point where such therapies are now considered integral to what is becoming a more holistic approach to cancer treatment as a whole.
“We therefore view our continued funding of complementary therapy as essential and believe it has to be offered at no cost to all patients and those supporting patients in order to make it available to everyone who wants it.”
Sue added: “We would like to invite more men to take up the offer. The evidence supporting complementary therapy’s role alongside conventional cancer treatment is not female biased. In other words, there’s no reason why as many men as women shouldn’t be using the service as it is equally beneficial to both genders!”
Rosemere Cancer Foundation fundraises to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients being treated at eight hospitals throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria, as well as at Rosemere Cancer Centre. The cancer centre is the region’s specialist cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre for the two counties.
The charity funds cutting edge equipment, research, training and other cancer services and therapies like complementary that are beyond limited NHS resources to make patients’ cancer journey more effective, comfortable and stress-free. For further information on its work, including how to make a donation, visi t www.rosemere.org.uk