The region's leading cancer nurses has joined forces to promote a befriending telephone service that can "work wonders" providing emotional support to cancer patients.
Jo Richardson, from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Sarah Witting, of the Queen Elizabeth in King's Lynn, and the James Paget's Julie Buckenham, have praised the Macmillan telephone buddy service after a surge in people looking for support.
The service is currently supporting 3,200 people across the UK by offering an hour long chat with a volunteer for up to eight weeks or more.
Earlier this year Macmillan Cancer Support in partnership with the Norfolk and Waveney Health and Care Partnership expanded the service to take on more referrals.
Jo Richardson, Macmillan lead cancer nurse at the NNUH, said: “Coping with a cancer diagnosis can be difficult at any time, but the stress of experiencing a serious illness on top of a pandemic has been wholly overwhelming for some patients.
“They’ve felt caught between ongoing uncertainty about the future, the isolation of having to shield, and worry about their health, treatment and finances. Even if they are fortunate to have loved ones around them, they may feel reluctant to burden them with their worries.
“Sometimes, the simplest and most effective way to relieve a bit of that pent-up anxiety is to have a chat with someone kind, who understands what you’re going through, but is that one step removed from your family and friends. That’s the Macmillan Telephone Buddy Service in a nutshell – it can work wonders.
“In that one precious hour each week, patients can talk to their Buddy about whatever matters to them – be it their health, their new pet or even what they’re watching on TV – and find out about other services and organisations offering practical, financial and emotional support.
“The service complements the support offered by the cancer nurses at the Norfolk and Norwich and gives people that extra shoulder to lean on in their hour of need."
To find out more about the support from a Macmillan volunteer, sign up by visiting macmillan.org.uk/telephonebuddies or by calling the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm).
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