Cancer sufferers will get more support from new partnership

PRESS RELEASE

Cancer patients and their carers in Grampian are to get more help to maximise their incomes, thanks to a new partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support, the Pensions Service and the Citizens Advice Bureaux service.

The first of its kind in Grampian, the five-year initiative, funded by Macmillan, is being launched today.

Three workers based in the bureaux in Aberdeen, Elgin and Peterhead will offer support to anyone affected by cancer - whether patient, family member or carer - on a wide range of issues, including welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment, and form-filling, as well as general advice.

Advice sessions will be available in bureaux and hospitals as well as home-visits to the housebound.  The bureaux in Orkney and Shetland will also deliver support for local people who use cancer services in Grampian.

Pat Stewart, manager of Aberdeen CAB, said: “Many cancer sufferers won’t have had contact with the benefits system before and will require advice and assistance in accessing everything to which they are entitled.

“Our service will be delivered close to the initial point of diagnosis as patients and their families are likely to require on-going support throughout the illness.  Patients over 60 will also be offered a home-visit by the Pensions Service to undertake a benefits-check.”

Elspeth Atkinson, Macmillan’s director for Scotland, said: “Financial hardship is becoming an increasingly desperate issue for the 26,000 people who are diagnosed with cancer each year in Scotland.  In fact, two-thirds of those who die of cancer each year do not receive the disability benefits to which they are entitled.  Whether through lack of awareness or sheer difficulty, thousands of patients have to endure the real ‘costs’ of cancer.

“Macmillan’s ‘Hitting Homes’ campaign has already revealed that six per cent of people lose their home after being diagnosed with cancer and 18 per cent have difficulties in keeping up with their mortgage or rental payments.

“Financial concerns should not have to be the first thing on someone’s mind when they are diagnosed with cancer.  This partnership will help ensure that more people from Grampian will have access to benefits and advice which will make a real difference to their quality of life.  ‘Can I afford to have cancer?’ isn’t a question anyone in Grampian should have to ask.”

In Scotland, Macmillan partnerships have already helped people affected by cancer access almost £20m in unclaimed benefits since 2003.  A similar Macmillan / CAB service partnership in Lanarkshire and Dumfries & Galloway has won praise from patients and health professionals since it began.

Jacqui Bruce, manager of Banff & Buchan CAB, added: “This service will also help health professionals to spend their time treating the patient rather than filling in forms.  One nurse told us how better it was that she was able to spend an hour with a patient discussing pain control rather than trying to assist with financial queries and issues.”

1. Each CAB is an independent charity, run by a committee of local people, and responsible for raising its own funding.
2. Around 80 per cent of CAB workers are trained volunteers – if you’d like to help your local community for just a few hours each week, contact your local bureau manager, or volunteer through the CAS website – www.cas.org.uk
3. The first bureaux in Scotland were established in 1939 as a wartime information service.  There are now 76 CAB offices across Scotland, which operate from over 200 service points, and which form the country’s largest independent advice network.
4. CAB advice services aim to be freely available and accessible to everyone in the community.