Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support have opened the doors today, to a newly built Cancer Support Centre at Ashford Hospital, Surrey. This purpose-built facility will provide a non-clinical space for cancer patients and their loved ones, where they can get support and advice throughout their cancer journey, closer to home.
Tom Smerdon, Group Director of Neighbourhood Health and Executive Sponsor for the Macmillan Centre said: “Thanks to the support and funding from Macmillan Cancer Support, we have been able to provide this much needed space. As well as providing information and support, the centre will provide complementary therapies, exercise classes and support groups.
“We welcomed our first visitor/service user Julie Chipperfield and it was lovely to see and hear how happy she was to be able to have access to this facility and everything it offers her and others.”
Julie was presented with a Macmillan goodie bag containing an assortment of wellbeing treats including a notebook, toiletries and chocolates.
Service user Julie Chipperfield said: “I’ve been watching the development of the centre with interest and am so glad it’s open. My mum died of cancer. We try to do what we can for cancer charities and have raised money through walks and activities.
“It is lovely to have a space where you receive a friendly welcome and a listening ear. Some days will be good, and others will not be so good, but we can all help each other.
“If you’re going through treatment, you meet a lot of people in uniform and that can sometimes feel intimidating but having a non-clinical space feels much more like a comfortable space where you can feel like yourself again. It takes the fear away.”
Kate Regan, Professional Engagement Improvement Lead at Macmillan, added: “We know that some conversations – particularly around the worries faced by people living with cancer – are better had in a warm and welcoming space and not in a clinical setting. The new Cancer Support Centre offers just that for the people living with cancer and their families in Surrey and the surrounding areas.
It provides a calm space for people to receive care that wraps around them, close to where they live, when they need it, so they never feel alone. We look forward to seeing it enable more people with cancer to get the very best support the UK has to offer.”
