Practical support for those affected by cancer — patients and their loved ones

Opening in summer 2017, the Maggie’s Centre at St Bart’s will be the biggest in the UK with an expected 20,000 visits a year from people across the 7 boroughs of London. The Centre will be there to help anyone affected by cancer.

“Every year, over 300,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in the UK. They face tough questions, exhausting treatment and difficult emotions. These challenges affect not only those with cancer, but their family and friends, too.

Maggie’s provides free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends, following the ideas about cancer care originally laid out by Maggie Keswick Jencks. Built in the grounds of NHS cancer hospitals, Maggie’s Centres are places with professional staff on hand to offer the support people need.

Our Centres are places to find practical advice about benefits and eating well, places where qualified experts provide emotional support, places to meet other people, and places where you can simply sit in peace and quiet.

Our core programme of support is based on evidence and has been shown to improve physical and emotional wellbeing during treatment and recovery.

For example, emotional support might involve a one-to-one or group session with a Clinical Psychologist, stress reduction and relaxation workshops, or art therapy and creative writing courses. Practical support might include advice on benefits and eating well, specialist support for managing hair loss and skin car during and after treatment, and courses for people who are newly diagnosed or adjusting to life after cancer. Social support comes from the people who work in and visit our Centres, and the supportive community around each kitchen table who understand what it is to be living with cancer.

During our next period of growth to 2020 we will double our Centres from 15 to 30 and treble the amount of new people we support to 80,000 a year. Our aim is that every one of the 61 major NHS cancer centres that needs a Maggie’s can have one. Almost half have no dedicated cancer support provision and we seek to fill the gaps where populations are underserved.

As cancer will touch even more of us in our lifetime, we want everyone who needs it to have access to the support Maggie’s offers.

We believe that the built and natural environments in which people are cared for have a direct impact on wellbeing and how a person responds to the challenge of cancer. As such Maggie’s Centres are warm and welcoming places, full of light and open space. Visitors do not need to declare themselves when they arrive; they can help themselves to a cup of tea and draw on the vast range of expert and specialist support on offer if they choose.

In the UK, 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. There are currently 2.5 million people with the disease and this is expected to increase to four million by 2030. [Maddams J, Utley M, Møller H. Projections of cancer prevalence in the United Kingdom, 2010–2040. Br J Cancer 2012; 107: 1195–1202. (Projections scenario 1).] Maggie’s acknowledges the excellent medical care and treatment that health services provide but that professionals don’t always have the extra time to sit with a person to discuss their wider concerns due to the demand for their services.

The majority of people with cancer need additional practical, emotional and social support to complement the excellent medical treatment that the NHS provides.

This is where we can help.

We have 184 members of staff based across our 19 centres and two offices. The first Maggie’s Centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996. There are now 19 Maggie’s Centres including an online Centre for support and this year we will open our 20th centre in 20 years in Forth Valley, Scotland. In 2016 we expect our centres to receive 240,000 visits and to reach 55,000 new visitors.

Our unique programme has been endorsed by NICE, the NHS and we have also won recognition among the UK medical profession. The Department of Health acknowledged Maggie’s as an example of best practice in the Cancer Reform Strategy, 2007 & 2008, and in the National Cancer Survivorship Report, 2013.

We have partnerships with some of the most acclaimed architects in the world, including four winners of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, some of whom give their time for little or nothing. These carefully selected architects ensure we build truly remarkable places which make people with cancer feel valued, safe and comfortable in an atmosphere which stimulates their imagination and lifts their spirits.

Our new Centre being built with Bart’s Health NHS Trust at St Bartholomew’s Hospital is due to open in late summer 2017 and will be the biggest in the UK with an expected 20,000 visits a year from people across the 7 boroughs of London who are referred to St Bartholomew’s for treatment.

Maggie’s is there to help anyone affected by cancer. We are currently working hard to fundraise to ensure the success of this Centre and cover running costs for the first two years. Maggie’s does not receive any Government Funding so it is thanks to the help and generosity of the public and companies across London who are helping us provide free support to anyone affected by cancer.