Sometimes we just have to do better.

I’m very proud of my profession, I’m also proud of the great strides health workers of all professions have made over the years to improve treatments and care for patients diagnosed with cancer. However, there are some areas of cancer care where we simply need to do better. This month Dr Daniel Saunders presented at our Sheffield Hallam cancer research seminar series, the title of his talk “Understanding the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual cancer patients, their partners and carers”. This thought provoking presentation is important for all of us working in cancer care, those working on the front line directly with patients and also researchers working in oncology.

I learnt a lot from Dan’s presentation, and found some of the statistics presented quite shocking. If you are a radiotherapy educator please share this presentation with your students; they are the future of healthcare delivery and we owe it to patients to make positive changes.  You can watch Dan’s full presentation here. We would love to hear your thoughts on this important topic, so leave a comment if you have time.

The next in our research seminar series will be a presentation by Professor Laura Serrant on her ‘screaming silences’ framework. Keep a look out on the blog for the link to her presentation coming in December.