February 2019

Group Meeting Report 28 February 2019

1. There were 54 members present including 4 new members (2 men plus 2 partners).

2. The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr Sean Keating, came along to talk to members. Cllr Keating had kindly helped out at the awareness event held in ‘The Malls’ last November. At that event, Cllr Keating asked if he might attend one of our group meetings.

3. Cllr Keating joined in with the round-table discussions and was interested to hear what members thought about the group and particularly how talking with others helped in the challenges faced by patients living with cancer. Before leaving, the Mayor helped with the raffle.

4. From our ‘Ask the Audience’ session at the January meeting, a key point was the lack of a replacement Clinical Liaison Officer after Sally Sawyer’s departure in September last year. Members were therefore very pleased to welcome Sara Fawcitt, Clinical Nurse Specialist, who had very recently been appointed as Sally’s replacement and was attending a group meeting for the first time.

5. Sara outlined her career background (see also the news item on the website www.nhpcsg.org.uk). Sara spoke to as many members as possible and took note of a number of current concerns that some members raised with the aim of investigating them further and providing answers back to the members.

6. Dan Parr, (Acting Operations Manager for Cancer Services, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) gave a presentation covering, amongst other things:

• Developments in the creation of a new cancer treatment centre at the Basingstoke Hospital;

• The performance of the Trust against national targets in relation to diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients;

• The areas in respect of prostate cancer where the Trust’s performance was below target and where improvements were needed, for example in the information given to patients about treatment options and potential side effects;

• The usefulness of the feedback from the group and how helpful it was to forge a close working relationship with the group committee.

7. Members were reminded that at the Annual General Meeting (28 March 2019) a new committee would be elected. Although some existing committee members were willing to stand again, there was a need to fill the Membership Secretary post, as well as other general committee posts.