Supportive care is the management of symptoms and relief of psychological distress relating to cancer and its treatment. This is provided by the palliative care team. This includes individualised support for patients from the point of diagnosis, through treatment and post-treatment care.
Supportive care is delivered by various professionals depending on the needs of the patient and includes specialties such as palliative care, psychological medicine, therapies and toxicity management.
Enhanced Supportive Care (ESC) is a term for offering supportive care to patients early on in their diagnosis where possible. It aims to keep people well throughout and beyond treatment and at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC) it has been shown to improve quality of life, keep people out of hospital, reduce length of stay for those in hospital and support patients to choose when to stop chemotherapy, where applicable.
ESC is also accessible for patients receiving curative treatment. The service at CCC cares for patients with complex symptom needs alongside treatment and also provides a late effects service for patients with longer term consequences of the treatment they have received.