Psychological Care at Macmillan

Around 1 in 4 people (100,000) living with cancer have a high level of psychological care needs. These needs are being poorly met compared to clinical needs.

Cancer and its treatments have a significant impact on people living with cancer and can lead to depression and anxiety. However, psychological support needs for people living with cancer are not being met.

Macmillan is influencing change at a system level to encourage more integrated systems that can offer the right support, at the right level, at any time along the cancer pathway.

Macmillan has invested strategically in clinical leadership roles and providing psychological care delivery care roles to create capacity across the UK. Over the past 10 years, we have funded 140 psychologist posts at around £10m on contracts which are now largely sustained.

In the current psychological care programme of work, Macmillan is investing in sites across the UK by funding posts delivering psychological support, training and supervision in new and pre-existing sites, and also in areas looking to scope and map provision and gaps.

The evaluation of this programme has been split into two phases.

This phase focuses on 2 sites: Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Lincolnshire ICB. The aim of the evaluation overall is to examine 3 key areas.

Process

The process by which each site implemented an integrated psychosocial care model for people living with cancer, and:

• factors that affected implementation of the programme
• critical successes that others can learn from and apply at their own sites.

Outcomes and impact

The difference that integrating and coordinating psychological care across the system made to:

• improving the provision of psychosocial care
• impact it had on people living with cancer and their quality of life
• the workforce supporting people living with cancer, including their skills and confidence to support people with psychological needs, and their work satisfcation and wellbeing
• the programmes impact on the wider system.

Economic impact

The economic impact of having a service that supports the psychological needs of people living with cancer.

What does it take to successfully embed psychological support within a health system?

Phase 2 aims to answer the question. This will involve exploration with a number of sites to get a deeper understanding of who and what needs to be in place for sustainable change to happen and also to gain insight into what different workforce models might look like.

If you would like to find out more about psychological care at Macmillan please contact psychosocialsupport@macmillan.org.uk.