When to signpost to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust

Also in this section:

• Resources for you and your patients >
• Our research into improving patient care, support and information >
• Useful information for GCNSs and Gynae-Oncologists >

Our research has highlighted an evident discrepancy between how patients and health care professionals feel about the amount of information and support women wish to receive:

• 81% of patients would have liked both more information and more support during their experience with cervical cancer (particularly after treatment)
• 78% of health care professionals felt the support their patients received during this time was more than adequate. 
• Only one in three women diagnosed with cervical cancer is told about Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and, crucially, 60% of women are missing out on support outside of their care team. 

We want to change but we need your help!

In a recent study we found that the majority of the secondary health care professionals admitted to only referring patients for additional support services when they noticed signs of visible distress or personally identified a specific need for additional support or information for a patient. Patients who appear to be coping well and understanding the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up procedure would most likely not receive any additional information, which does not take into account how the state of mind or needs of these patients may change once they have left the clinical environment.

None of the sites engaged with in the research had a structure in place for routinely informing all follow-up patients of the support services available to them at Jo’s, this leaves women who have an outward appearance of calm during diagnosis less supported and informed that women who appear distressed.

Resources available to help you signpost women to us

We have information specifically designed to help you signpost patients to our services. This includes our new information booklet for women who have recently been diagnosed entitled ‘Your guide to cervical cancer’.

To ensure that all patients have an equal opportunity to access information and support please signpost your patients to our support services and information.

Order the booklet on our online shop. Once in the materials order form simply enter your details then add the quanity of booklets your would like to order. The 'Your guide to cervical cancer' booklet can be found on page 2 of the form and is titled "Booklet (oversized A5):Your guide to cervical cancer - A resource for women diagnosed with cervical cancer".