Cancer patients being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre and Chorley & South Ribble Hospital are to continue to be offered free complementary therapy alongside their conventional medical treatment thanks to an award of £39,200 by Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
The grant made to Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Oncology Directorate, which manages cancer services across both Rosemere Cancer Centre at the Royal Preston Hospital and at Chorley & South Ribble Hospital, guarantees up to six free holistic health sessions such as aromatherapy, reiki and reflexology per patient up until autumn next year.
All the sessions will now be delivered at a dedicated “complementary therapy clinic” within Chorley & South Ribble Hospital’s new chemotherapy unit, which Rosemere Cancer Foundation also helped to fund.
Tracey Palmer, Speciality Business Manager, said: “We have relocated all complementary therapy sessions to the new chemotherapy unit at Chorley to free up vital space at Rosemere Cancer Centre.
“We fund 25 hours of complementary health therapy sessions per month ourselves but are extremely grateful to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for its grant as it will enable us to provide another 121 hours of monthly treatments to ensure that all patients who want sessions can have them for the foreseeable future.”
Sarah Welsh, Acting Matron for Oncology, added: “Touch therapies such as massage can really improve the patient experience as they go through their cancer treatment journey. The feedback we receive for the service from those patients who take up sessions is very positive.”
