London celebrates the work of Allied Health Professionals and Psychological Therapies in cancer care

North East London Cancer Alliance joined colleagues from across London to celebrate Allied Health Care Professionals Day on 14 October, as well as taking part in a dedicated conference on 16 October, to recognise the fantastic contribution that this workforce makes, alongside psychological therapies, to the health, wellbeing and quality of life for local cancer patients.

Allied health professionals (AHPs) and Psychological Therapies play a crucial role in assessing, diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating cancer patients of all ages to improve their health and well-being. Their work involves a holistic approach to care, which can include physical, sensory, psychological, and social aspects, helping patients manage their cancer treatment and help improve the quality of life for people living with cancer.

Examples of AHPs include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, and speech and language therapists. AHP Day takes place annually across England in recognition of their work, as well as the work of psychological therapies, which makes such a positive difference to patients. This day helps to highlight the amazing career opportunities that these roles – both Allied Health Professionals and Psychological Therapies – provide, helping to encourage more people to apply for jobs in these areas.

The Pan-London Allied Health Professionals and Psychological Therapies Conference

Lindsay Lovell, Clinical Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Head & Neck Cancer / ENT) at Barts Health said: “I just felt it was a pretty inspiring day, getting to learn about all the amazing ways that AHPs are improving care for patients and really making changes to pathways, showing strong leadership within their MDTs and advocating for patients.”

The London Allied Health Professionals and Psychological Therapies Conference took place at the Royal National Hotel in London on 16 October, and was opened by Cheryl Tackie, South East London Cancer Alliance Patient Partner and Chair of the NHSE National Cancer Programme Patient Partner Voice Forum. 

Cheryl talked about her own cancer experience and the importance and brilliance of the healthcare professionals that she came into contact throughout her journey.  She said how little knowledge she had, before becoming a patient partner, about the breadth and depth of work and the number of people and professions involved in supporting people with cancer. 

And she thanked everyone in the room for everything they do to support people with cancer, who all make a huge difference and impact on patients’ lives.

The morning sessions

Heather Munro, Lead Psychologist in Cancer & Palliative Care, Homerton Healthcare, said: “Thanks for putting on such a great and thoughtful event, really appreciated! It was really nice to hear updates on the prehab guidance and ACCEND, things we often don’t get the headspace to think about over the course of a busy week. It was great to be able to network and connect with colleagues old and new across the whole of London.”

The morning sessions were incredibly informative and interesting, including an overview of the direction of travel indicated by the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and the anticipated cancer plan.  Without giving anything away Lesley Smith, LWBC Senior Programme Manager at NHSE, spoke of the expected priorities within the cancer plan, particularly in relation to Living with and Beyond Cancer. 

June Davis, Lead AHP and Nursing Advisor at Macmillan Cancer Support, gave a really useful introduction to the new Prehabilitation Guidelines for People with Cancer.  This included the stakeholders and contributors, the workstreams, methodology, recommendations and priorities.

Attendees were then treated to two sessions on the ACCEND framework.  The first delivered by Lucy Elkiss, Lead Project Nurse from the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance who introduced the framework and the fantastic work she’s been leading on to introduce and implement it in her region. 

The second was a practical example of how the ACCEND framework has been used by multi-professionals delivering the Active Together services across South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.  Both speakers provided lots of excellent learning and takeaways.

All the above speakers were then brought together for a panel discussion, led by Cheryl Tackie.  There were some great questions from the room that asked about everything we’d heard in the morning. 

Yvonne Beadle, Programme Manager for Personalised Cancer Care and Workforce, North East London Cancer Alliance, said “I loved Cheryl’s question asking the panel about their careers and how they got into cancer.  We really got to know a bit more about the speakers, their achievements, and their personal experiences.”

“Other stand outs for me were the introduction from Will Slemmings, NEL Physical Activity Integration Lead, about why physical activity is everyone’s business, and Lorraine Mabiza’s presentation about the NEL Community Games initiatives that North East London Cancer Alliance ran over the summer.  Lorraine was last to present before lunch, and she kept the audience engaged with her wit, energy and important opportunities and lessons learnt from the project.”

The afternoon sessions

“There were some really interesting talks - clearly there is some fantastic work happening across London and there is something in finding the balance between what work would be good taking a pan-London approach and what work works best completed locally” said Sahra Jalali, Clinical Lead, Specialist Physiotherapist Haematology and Oncology, Barts Health

Returning from lunch, and before the serious business of the afternoon, Adnaan Ayoub led the audience in an active 10 minutes which got everyone switched back on and banished the post-lunch slump.  It was quite something to see over 120 healthcare professionals in the conference hall doing squats!

The afternoon sessions were chaired by Laura Leadsford, Head AHP for London, and Dr Estelle Moore, Chair of the London Psychology Professions Network, and focused on celebrating some of the incredible work being delivered in London by the cancer AHP and Psychological Therapies workforce. 

These included the following speakers: Sahra Jalali, Clinical Lead of Cancer Therapies at Barts Health, speaking with her peer, Anna Tayor from UCLH, about enhanced and advanced capabilities for cancer therapists based on the ACCEND framework; Lindsay Lovell, Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist, Barts Health, speaking about SLT-led 2WW suspected H&N cancer pathway; Andriana Petrova, Highly Specialist Prehabilitation Dietician, Barts Health speaking about dietetic counselling prior to pancreatic surgery.

The conference was closed by a really reflective and important session led by Dr Mark Groves, Lead Psychologist at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.  Mark led the audience through a session “Looking after ourselves – Compassionate Mind: A helpful Tool for working in a threat-filled system”.  It was a helpful reminder, with practical tools, to look after ourselves to enable us to better look after others, and included a moment of mindfulness.  A great way to end an incredible day packed with informative and interesting presentations and speakers, with lots to take home and to take forward in work.

Matthew Harrison, North East London AHP Workforce Lead said: “From a non-cancer background I felt there was a clear collective drive to support patients with cancer regardless of profession. “It felt like a truly integrated approach across AHPs, psychological staff and medical colleagues.”

For more information

Information about the day and further examples about the great work being delivered in London can be found on the event website (this includes all the posters and presentations delivered on the day). 

You’ll also find on the website information about the four London Cancer Alliances that hosted the event, information about Macmillan Cancer Support and the London AHP CoP that they’re establishing, details of the agenda and speakers, slides from the presentations and an important feedback form.