Cancer patients given blood tests away from hospital to shield them from coronavirus
By Melissa Kasule
A trip to the hospital has been cut short with a new initiative where cancer patients can have essential tests closer to home in supermarkets and pharmacies.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and St John Ambulance staff are doing essential blood tests and procedures on cancer patients from three mobile centres.
The treatment centres are at Boots in Clapham Junction, Tesco superstore in Elephant & Castle and Waitrose car park in Beckenham.
The project aims to minimise potential exposure to Covid-19 for cancer patients who may have compromised immune systems following treatments.
Around 500 patients have been seen since the start of the project, which expects to see 15 to 20 patients a day from now on.
Former radiographer, Christine Harley, 76, from Beckenham, who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had blood tests at the mobile centre in Beckenham.
She said: “It was very quick and just the same as going to the cancer centre, except it’s more convenient.
“My daughter or son usually take me up to London and it can take 45 minutes, with all the traffic even now – then after you wait a little, you get the test done. It can be all morning or all afternoon.
“The mobile cancer service is a really good, positive idea, especially when you have weeks and months on this treatment.
“You are not bumping into different people or waiting around. I’d rather stay local than go up to London.”
St John volunteer, Toni Whiteing, who coordinates the scheme for the charity, said: “Our volunteers have had such a warm welcome from the clinical teams and the patients, many of whom have said how they feel much safer and protected from the virus, thanks to the mobile centres.
“For our volunteers, being part of this in their local community is hugely rewarding. We feel incredibly proud to be involved in supporting these patients at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable, especially due to Covid-19.”
The project, which is supported by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, has been developed by Guy’s Cancer with the South East London Cancer Alliance, and is available from Guy’s Cancer Centre in London Bridge, Guy’s Cancer Centre in Sidcup and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital site.
Pictured top: Georgia Hornsby, acting sister, chemotherapy
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