We have compiled a series of films featuring one of our Cancer Nurse Specialists who answers some of the regular questions that patients first ask with a cancer diagnosis

Considering the different treatments depending upon stage and grade

Talking through the anxious time of waiting for news of treatment to begin

Discussing the intent of the treatment at the outset of the diagnosis

This may be done at either Airedale General Hospital or Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, however depending on the type of cancer it may be only offered in specialist centres. Your cancer team will discuss with you where your surgery will be delivered.

Find out more on the Macmillan website and the Cancer Research UK website

Radiotherapy is the use of carefully controlled (high energy) X-rays, to treat cancer. It can be given as a single session or as multiple sessions depending on the type of cancer you have. Radiotherapy is given by therapy radiographers who are highly trained in the delivery of radiotherapy treatments. You will see radiographers at each treatment session, and they are always happy to answer any questions

This treatment is only available at the Cancer Centre in Leeds. The radiotherapy department is on level -2 of Bexley Wing at St James’s University Hospital.

If you are travelling by car or hospital transport take the red or green lift from the atrium entrance on level 0. There is also an entrance directly to level -2 from Beckett Street for those travelling by public transport. There is a regular bus service from the city centre which stops just outside the door.

If you are coming for radiotherapy and have driven to St James’s you do not have to pay for your parking. Park in the hospital car park opposite the Bexley Wing entrance as normal. When leaving the car park please show the car parking attendant your radiotherapy appointment letter and they will let you exit the car park without paying.

Radiotherapy treatment pathway

If your treatment plan includes radiotherapy, this film will help to explain some of the things that you may be worried about before you attend for your first visit, such as travel, parking and what to expect.

Please follow the Radiotherapy treatment pathway – Airedale NHS Foundation Trust link that will take you to our patient information page for radiotherapy. On this page you will find videos and information on:

• What radiotherapy is and planning for your treatment
• Preparing to travel to St James’s University Hospital for your radiotherapy (including location and parking)
• What to expect during your radiotherapy appointments
• How to get more support from Macmillan Cancer Support and Radiotherapy UK

Contacts

• For appointments and general queries call: 0113 206 8940 (main radiotherapy reception)
• The radiotherapy department is open Monday to Friday 8 am to 6.30 pm (excluding bank holidays).

Find out more on the Macmillan website.

What is chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy drugs are used to treat many different types of cancer. They are most commonly given into a vein or as tablets or capsules.

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. Cytotoxic means toxic to cells. Most chemotherapy drugs are carried in the blood. This means they can reach cancer cells anywhere in the body. Chemotherapy is also called systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT).

Cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs disrupt the way cancer cells grow and divide. But they also affect some of the healthy cells in your body. These healthy cells can usually recover from damage caused by chemotherapy. But cancer cells cannot recover, and they eventually die.

Please follow the Macmillan chemotherapy link for more information.

Understanding chemotherapy booklet

Chemotherapy – easy read

Chemotherapy treatment pathway

If your treatment plan includes chemotherapy this film will help to explain some of the things that you may be worried about before you attend for your first visit, such as parking, what to eat and drink and what medicines to take.

Please follow the Chemotherapy treatment pathway – Airedale NHS Foundation Trust link that will take you to our patient information page for chemotherapy. On this page you will find videos and information on:

• Preparing to come in to Airedale General Hospital for your chemotherapy (including location and parking)
• What to expect on the day of your chemotherapy (including where the chemotherapy unit is, how it is given and how long it may last)
• What to expect after your chemotherapy (including what to do if you feel unwell and who to contact)
• How to get more support from Macmillan Cancer Support

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is used to treat many different types of cancer. The immune system protects the body against illness and infection. Cancer immunotherapies are treatments that use the immune system to find and attack cancer cells.

There are different types of immunotherapy that uses the immune system in a different way. Some are given in combination with other cancer drugs, such as chemotherapy. This is called chemoimmunotherapy.

Please follow the What is Immunotherapy and how is it given link for more information.

Immunotherapy treatment pathway

If your treatment plan includes immunotherapy this film will help to explain some of the things that you may be worried about before you attend for your first visit, such as parking, what to eat and drink and what medicines to take.

Please follow the Immunotherapy patient journey – Airedale NHS Foundation Trust link that will take you to our patient information page for immunotherapy. On this page you will find videos and information on:

• Preparing to come in to Airedale General Hospital for your immunotherapy (including location and parking)
• What to expect on the day of your immunotherapy (including where the immunotherapy unit is, how it is given and how long it may last)
• What to expect after your immunotherapy (including what to do if you feel unwell and who to contact)
• How to get more support from Macmillan Cancer Support

Find out more on the Macmillan website:

Targeted therapies

Some cancers depend on hormones to grow. Find out about different hormonal therapies and how they work by visiting Hormonal therapies.

What are hormones?

Hormones are substances produced naturally in the body. They help control how cells grow and what they do in the body.

Hormones are produced by a number of different organs and glands. Together, these are known as the endocrine system. Hormonal therapy is sometimes called endocrine therapy.

What is hormonal therapy?

Hormonal therapies work by changing the production or activity of particular hormones in the body. They are most commonly used to treat breast cancer and prostate cancer. The type of hormone therapy you have depends on the type of cancer being treated.

Hormone therapies may also, in some cases, be managed by other healthcare professionals.

Getting ready for your treatment

This is usually offered to people with advanced cancers, which usually means it is not possible to cure. Some people can have advanced cancer when they are first diagnosed and for others the cancer may have spread or come back after a period of time. Sometimes treatment may not be able to control the cancer or the individual may not be well enough to have treatment.

You will be offered treatments to manage symptoms.

You may be referred to a specialist team called the palliative care team who specialise in controlling cancer symptoms.

Find out more on the Macmillan website.

About the service

In November 2018, in partnership with charity Hope for Tomorrow, we launched our new mobile cancer care unit (MCCU). The state-of-the-art MCCU, which is 6 car parking widths wide and has 4 treatment chairs, has been designed to enable flexibility for treatment locations, depending on where the patient need is greatest.

The new MCCU, brings cancer care closer to patients in their own community and is owned and maintained by Hope for Tomorrow and is provided along with a Nurses’ Support Vehicle which allows the nursing team to travel to and from the daily locations of the MCCU.

The locations the MCCU visits are:

• Booths Supermarket at Settle,
• National Trust at Grassington,
• Boundary Mill Colne,
• Woodbank Nurseries
• Wilsden

• Booths Supermarket Ilkley
• Generous Pioneer Wharfdale
• Morrisons Supermarket Skipton
• Sainsburys Supermarket at Keighley

What to expect on board a Hope for Tomorrow Mobile Cancer Care Unit

Update

In November 2021 Airedale NHS Foundation Trust launched their latest mobile cancer unit – adding to its fleet, taking cancer care and treatments to the patient in Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven 5 days a week.

The Next Generation unit, provided by the charity Hope for Tomorrow, is a state-of-the-art fully mobile medical cancer care unit which revolutionises the way cancer care is delivered.  A new feature is the hydraulic sides – which move out to provide two clinic rooms, so providing a larger unit.

It will visit communities to provide accessible clinics as well as cancer treatments including chemotherapy.  Staffed by specialist oncology nursing teams and pharmacists the unit will allow cancer services to be delivered in the heart of the local community in venues including Skipton, Keighley, Bingley, Ilkley and Barnoldswick.

Moving cancer care closer to patients has proven health and wellbeing benefits as the reduced travel and waiting times can lower stress and anxiety levels for patients.  Staff also appreciate the different working environment, away from the hospital setting.  The unit will be used for clinics that are already in place but will now have them in the community, so patients can incorporate their appointments into their lives rather than fit their life around hospital appointments.

The trust received its first unit from Hope for Tomorrow in 2018 and had the use of an additional unit during the pandemic so vulnerable patients didn’t always need to come into hospital and they have both been a great success.

Pat Dyminksi, lead clinical nurse specialist for haematology, oncology and chemotherapy at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust says:

“We received our very first mobile unit three years ago today and it has had a huge impact on patients.  For me, the most important thing when setting these up was that patients would feel as safe in the mobile units as they do in hospital.

It was a vision to begin with, but it has been extremely successful and now three years on we are here using the units to their maximum potential.  If you’ve got the clinic space, the needs of patients and staff availability then the sky is the limit with what we can expand this to.”

Sheenagh Stapleton who lives near Settle was having to make a 40-mile round trip to receive treatment, but the Mobile Cancer Unit brought treatment closer to home.  She cut the ribbon at the launch event.

Sheenagh says “I’ve had 5 lots of chemotherapy sessions now and initially when I started, they didn’t have the unit so my journey of 20 miles was on top of the chemo.  Now I can drive to Settle, which is 5 minutes away, sit there and have 4-5 hours of treatment and go home.  It makes such a difference; it means I don’t have to get my family to come out of work to collect me and disrupt their day and I can get on with a normal routine rather than have everything turned upside down.

This unit is named ‘Christine’, in honour of the Hope for Tomorrow charity’s founder who died of cancer in 2018.

Hope for Tomorrow designed and launched their first mobile cancer care unit in 2007 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Since then, they have continually developed their fleet which grew to 13 units by the beginning of 2021. Eleven mobile cancer care units are currently allocated to NHS Trusts with two units remaining in reserve to ensure no interruptions to service. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis available reserve units were deployed to support NHS trusts wherever possible, allowing vital cancer services to continue.

Chemotherapy – easy read guide

Side effects from chemotherapy – easy read guide

Radiotherapy – easy read guide

Side effects from radiotherapy – easy read guide

Treatments for prostate cancer – easy read guide

Giving your consent to treatment – easy read guide

Having surgery – easy read guide

Complementary therapies – easy read guide