“If a woman who is newly diagnosed and making critical decisions about treatment has a ‘low-risk signature’ and would likely not benefit from chemotherapy, it means she can choose not to have it,” Dr McCart Reed explains. Dr Amy McCart Reed, from Professor Lakhani’s molecular breast pathology team, is an expert in genetics who has helped develop a diagnostic test that in the future could determine if a patient with invasive lobular breast cancer – the second most common type of breast cancer – requires chemotherapy. Personalised models of care is a global movement in cancer science. The new guidelines will help pathologists identify which patients have more aggressive forms of breast cancer, which could see them receive more targeted treatment. Thanks to the work of his team and other researchers around the world, new pathology guidelines on how breast tumours are classified have been included in the World Health Organization’s iconic Blue Book, regarded as the gold standard for diagnosing tumours. There should also be a new role created for virtual mental health leads in every local authority whose job it would be to improve mental health services for children in care and care leavers.The Asia-Pacific Metaplastic Breast Cancer Consortium, formed by researchers at UQ's Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR), is led by Professor Sunil Lakhani. This should be a key consideration for new Integrated Care Boards as they develop their plans for children and young people’s services. This would extend the role of being a ‘corporate parent’ beyond children’s services to include, for example, midwives and health visitors.Ĭare-experienced parents need to have access to mental health support. More public bodies including the NHS and police forces should have a statutory responsibility to support children in care and care leavers. This should include having access to family-finding support and ‘buddies’ or independent visitors.Īll local authorities should develop policies on how they support care-experienced parents as part of their local leaving care offer.
There should be an accessible family hub available in every area providing a one-stop shop where parents and prospective parents can go for advice and support.Ĭare-experienced parents should get support up to the age of 25 to build their own ‘village’ of informal support. We believe these five recommendations for change would help local authorities and other public bodies to provide better support for care-experienced parents, and should form part of the implementation plan for the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England. We need to listen to care-experienced parents’ experiences to improve the care system. Once the research was completed, peer researchers helped to identify areas to influence change and improvement, alongside sharing positive experiences and evidence of what works. The Care-experienced Parents Unite for Change report seeks to demonstrate the importance of improving support for care-experienced parents through research conducted by researchers with lived experience of care and parenthood.Īs experts by lived experience, this approach demonstrates the importance of involving care-experienced parents in designing the solutions they need to feel better supported. Many care-experienced parents also have a long-term mistrust of social care professionals which can make it difficult to ensure they are accessing the support they need.
As a group, care-experienced parents are at increased risk of isolation and loneliness, can find it difficult to access mental health support, and often face financial difficulties since they face the costs of raising a child often on a very low income.
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