Who We’re Doing It For.
FOCUS is the charitable fund for the Gloucestershire Oncology Centre located in Cheltenham, raising funds which directly provide extra care, specialist equipment and improvements to facilities for local cancer patients.
The team are there to support the patients at every step; from a diagnosis of cancer to advice during and beyond their treatment. The team work alongside the NHS clinical team and offer daily support of pre-chemotherapy and pre-radiotherapy information sessions together with practical and emotional support and advice to patients and their families and carers.
FOCUS offers many services which are an invaluable source of support. Some examples are, advice on hair loss, counselling and psychological services, financial planning and sorting your travel insurance for your much needed holiday. They provide complementary therapies including massage, reflexology, reiki and EFT to help relieve anxiety. FOCUS provide a weekly NHS wig clinic with a professional wig consultant.
Simply put, they help you live your life whilst living with cancer.
FOCUS has also helped to fund equipment for the unit to make treatment days more comfortable for patients. Reclining chairs were purchased for patients who must endure hours of infusions in the same position meaning patients can rest whilst having their treatment. Vein finding equipment is currently being purchased with charitable donations made to FOCUS. After many prods and pokes trying to find veins they often collapse or hide making cannulisation impossible. This can be distressing for many patients especially those with a needle phobia. This piece of equipment eliminates all of that.
GLOUCESTER HOSPITAL PAEDIATRIC DIABETES DEPARTMENT care for children and young people with diabetes from the ages of 0-18 years, predominantly Type 1. They also care for children with Type 2 diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis-related diabetes. They provide a multi-professional service supporting children, their families, school and other organisations.
As you can imagine, especially for children, having Type 1 diabetes can be very isolating and children often go through many phases of emotional and physical changes. The Diabetes Unit use charitable donations to help fund equipment for children, not readily available on the NHS, to help them become more independent. It also helps fund more state of the art equipment needed by the clinicians for monitoring long term glucose levels and training.
It is important for children to grow up understanding the importance of this condition to prevent any further damage to their bodies. It is also important that they do not feel alone and different to their peers. The department hold regular days out for the children and their families so that they can meet other children going through similar experiences. This also helps any parents or siblings who may feel overwhelmed with their child’s condition.
This type of equipment and these types of services are not currently funded by the NHS.
