Lung cancer nurses at Kettering General
Hospital are urging local
people to give up smoking in the run-up to World Cancer Day (Friday, February
4).
KGH Lung Cancer Nurse Specialist Lesley Holland,
together with Lung Cancer Nurse Lynne Parker, provide vital care and support
for more than 200 lung cancer patients and their families each year.
Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world
and In the run-up to World Cancer Day Lesley is urging local people to consider
giving up smoking rather than run the risk of going on to develop lung cancer.
Lesley said: “We know that 90% of people who
develop lung cancer are smokers or ex-smokers.
“The single most important thing you can do to
reduce your chances of getting this form of cancer is to stop smoking.
“Today the NHS has a well developed Smoking
Cessation Service to help and support people who want to quit smoking.”
The statistics prove that if you stop smoking for
3-9 months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will improve and if you stop
for 10 years you will reduce your chances of developing lung cancer by half.
At
KGH Lesley and Lung Cancer Nurse, Lynne Parker, provide support for lung cancer
patients and their families. They also educate KGH staff, and other healthcare
professionals, about lung cancer care and carry out audits into the particular
types of treatment we provide.
Lesley
also sits on the National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses where she contributes to
national guidelines on lung cancer care.
She
said: “We principally meet patients for the first time when they are referred
to a consultant with suspected cancer or when their diagnosis is confirmed.
“We
also see patients in outpatients when their treatment is being discussed and
started and also at any time if they are an inpatient with us.
“We
help people to cope with their diagnosis, give them lots of information about
what is happening to them now and in the future and try to do that at a pace
which is right for them.
Lynne
Parker said: “We help people to manage their symptoms and give them – and their
families – emotional support and information. We can really help people to
understand what is going on, be their advocates with other members of staff and
help to co-ordinate their care.”
Facts
about lung cancer
- It is the most common
type of cancer in the world
- Approximately 40,000
patients are diagnosed with it in the UK every year
- In the UK it is
the most common cause of cancer death in men, and the second most common
in women (after breast cancer)
- 80% of cases are in
people over 60
- 90% of lung cancer
deaths are in smokers
- Survival rates from
lung cancer are very low
World Cancer Day
4 February 2011
Cancer is a leading cause of death around
the world. The World Health Organisation estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005
and 2015 without intervention.
Each year on 4 February, the World Health Organisation supports
International Union against cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of
cancer. Preventing cancer and raising quality of life for cancer patients are
recurring themes.
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