Bambos Charalambous MP took time out of his busy schedule on Friday 10th May to visit Macmillan Cancer Support professionals at North Middlesex University Hospital. He has a particular interest in the exceptional work taking place within the Macmillan Palliative care team at the hospital. Mr Charalambous hopes that their example of good practice can be replicated across the country in line with his recently proposed private members bill aiming to improve the provision of care for terminally ill patients nationwide to make the system better and fairer.
Bambos Charalambous MP with just some of the 30-strong Macmillan team at North Mid
Macmillan has invested over £2million to date to improve cancer patient experience at the hospital. More than 30 Macmillan professionals work within the Trust within a variety of posts including cancer nurse specialists in lung, breast, bowel and blood cancer as well as the large palliative care team.
Mr Charalambous came to witness first-hand how the charity works in partnership with the hospital treating people living with cancer from Haringey and the surrounding area including his constituency of Enfield Southgate. He was welcomed by Maria Kane, Chief Executive at the Trust and Azmina Verjee, Manager of the Macmillan Cancer Support Centre at the hospital.
Mr Charalambous said:
Azmina Verjee (Macmillan Cancer Support Centre Manager), Bambos Charalambous MP, Maria Kane (Chief Executive at North Middlesex University Trust)
“It was great to meet a team of such caring individuals who are leading the way in providing excellent, patient focussed palliative care, a subject close to my heart. It is so important that terminally ill patients get the care they need at the end of life giving them a better quality of life. Good palliative care is about living not just about dying”
Maria Kane, Chief Executive at North Middlesex University Trust added:
“We were delighted to welcome Bambos Charalambous MP to North Middlesex University Hospital to learn more about the great collaboration we have with Macmillan. Our local communities look to North Mid to provide them with excellent care and we know that we can make that experience better when we work in partnership with other expert organisations like Macmillan. We look forward to our continued partnership helping patients to have a high-quality experience with safe and compassionate care.”
The visit coincided with the start of Dying Matters week, during which associated charities (including Macmillan Cancer Support) encourage people to have honest conversations about the difficult topic of death in order to get the most out of life.
Macmillan has information and resources for people to help them plan for death, including a questionnaire to find out how ready they are to talk about it, a guide for starting the conversation and a planning checklist. A video has also been produced.
Visit www.macmillan.org.uk/letstalkaboutdeath for more information.
If you have any questions about cancer, drop into the Macmillan Cancer Support Centre at North Mid Hospital, which is open on Monday to Friday from 10am-5pm (no appointment necessary) or call on 020 8887 3992. Alternatively, you can call the Macmillan Support Line free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am to 8pm) or visit www.macmillan.org.uk .
Macmillan relies almost entirely on public donations. To donate or volunteer for Macmillan visit www.macmillan.org.uk/getinvolved.