Care and support if you have advanced cancer

If you are having treatments such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormonal therapy or radiotherapy, a cancer doctor will look after you. You will usually have regular check-ups with the hospital team. These might be face to face or by a phone or video call.

You might be referred to a palliative care team. This is a team of specialists who can help you manage symptoms such as pain or feeling sick (nausea). They can also offer psychological support. They are usually based in hospitals and hospices.

Social services can help if you find some everyday activities difficult. Social care can include getting help with:

• personal care, such as washing and dressing
• tasks like cleaning and cooking.

There are different ways to access social care. Your hospital team, GP or district nurse can refer you to social services. Or you can refer yourself.

You will have a needs assessment before any care is arranged. A social worker will ask you about your daily routine and what you find difficult. Sometimes an occupational therapist or nurse may do this instead.

Each local authority has its own assessment procedure. Local authorities will have information on their website. They can also provide an up-to-date list of local providers and can signpost you to services. You can find your local authority by visiting gov.uk/find-local-council

You usually have to pay towards the cost of services. This depends on your financial situation. If you have a lot of care needs, you may be eligible for funding for your care. Your GP or a social worker can tell you more about this.

If you prefer, you can arrange care privately. There are a lot of private organisations providing care, including overnight care. Any care provider must be registered with the Care Quality Commission. Your local adult social services department should be able to give you details of approved private agencies. You can also ask friends or family members for recommendations. The Homecare Association can also give you details of homecare providers that follow its code of practice.

If you might need care for some time, you may prefer to be looked after in a residential care home, or care home with nursing (nursing home). A nursing home has qualified nurses on their staff to provide nursing care. They usually offer short-stay or long-stay care.

When you have advanced cancer, it is important to think about the care you might need in the future. Even if you do not have any nursing needs now, you may need nursing care as your illness progresses. Planning ahead can help you avoid having to move from a residential home into somewhere that offers nursing care if you need this.

Your GP, district nurse or social worker can arrange for you to stay in a care home, either with or without nursing care. They can explain the different types of care homes.

Many care homes are privately owned. However, some are run by a charity or the local council. You usually need to contribute towards the costs of staying in a care home. This depends on your financial situation.

NHS UK has information about care homes and funding for care. You may be able to get a list of local care homes from your local county council. Carehome UK also has information about care homes and funding.

We want everyone affected by cancer to feel our information is written for them.

We want our information to be as clear as possible. To do this, we try to:

• use plain English
• explain medical words
• use short sentences
• use illustrations to explain text
• structure the information clearly
• make sure important points are clear.

We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.

You can read more about how we produce our information here.