The effect of support and complementary therapy on patient's quality of life in a colorectal oncology clinic: pilot study

Abstract

n = 26, 60%), those aged 65 years or over (n = 28, 65%), those with a cancer diagnosis (n = 32, 74%) and those who died in hospital (n = 28, 65%). Overall, 26 (61%) patients were in contact with community nurses during their illness. Respondents rated their care as excellent for 58% (n = 15) of patients and fair or poor for 39% (n = 10) of patients. A total of 21 (50%) respondents rated care provided by general practitioners as fair or poor. Furthermore, l2 (28%) respondents did not consider the patient's GP easy to talk to, and 13 (30%) did not consider the GP very understanding of their situation. Of the 32 patients with a diagnosis of cancer, only 12 (38%) received care from specialist palliative care nurses at home and rated their care as excellent or good for 10 (83%) of these patients. Out of the 38 (88%) of patients who accessed hospital care during their last year of life, 23 (61%) were reported as having been given adequate time by hospital doctors. However, only 14 (37%) reported patients as having been offered a choice in the treatment they received during their hospital stay. Respondents rated care received from hospital doctors and nurses as excellent or good in 23 (61%) and in 25 (66%) of cases, respectively. A total of 22 (51%) respondents reported not being provided with adequate information by health care professionals about the patient's illness and prognosis. Lastly, when all care received by the patients and carers were taken into consideration only 19 (44%) respondents rated it as excellent or good. In addition to satisfaction data on patients' and their carers' experiences of services received, qualitative data elicited during the interviews will be presented.Conclusions: While these interim quantitative and qualitative findings describe instances of high-quality care across a number of different health care settings, there is, as yet, no room for complacency about the care of dying patients and their carers from the black Caribbean population who possess specific unmet cultural and community needs.Background: Demand for complementary therapy among oncology patients is increasing, but little information is available regarding the impact of this intervention on patient quality of life. Such information is vital to health care professionals advising patients under their care of the benefits or otherwise of complementary care. This presentation will outline the pilot phase of this study which aims to gather acceptability and effect size data to determine the sample size of the main study.