Course on cancer rehabilitation for nurses and other health professionals

Swansea University launches new course in cancer rehabilitation

Nurses and other health professionals will soon be able to take a dedicated course on cancer rehabilitation at Swansea University.

The master's module in cancer rehabilitation is being launched to help the training of health and social care staff.

An increasing number of people now survive cancer and this has highlighted the importance of cancer rehabilitation.

The new short course at Swansea University, which will begin in February 2011, has been developed in collaboration with nurses and allied health professionals and will be led by senior lecturers Dr Deborah Fitzsimmons and Tessa Watts.

Dr Fitzsimmons said: "With the increase in cancer survival and effective treatments enabling patients to live with a cancer diagnosis, rehabilitation must be considered as a priority.

"This exciting new module will enable practitioners and specialists to update their knowledge base ensuring that patients receive the right treatments at the right time by the right professional."

Melanie Lewis, a lead Macmillan lymphoedema physiotherapist specialist at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Local Health Board, said that the module will give practitioners, specialists and planners "a greater understanding of the context of cancer rehabilitation and how patients could benefit".

"This module is vitally important for patients as it is recognition that patients do need rehabilitation after a cancer diagnosis to get them back to leading as normal life as possible," added Ms Lewis, who is also the cancer rehabilitation lead for the South West Wales Cancer Network.

Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK's head information nurse, said: "We're pleased to see this new course with a focus on cancer.

"Advances in cancer medicine mean that more and more people are living with the disease or side-effects of treatment, so teaching health professionals about the best ways to help cancer survivors is more important now than ever before."