Contact us

The cancer treatment helpline provides support, advice and information to patients experiencing any treatmentrelated symptoms. All medication, appointment, central line and additional support queries should still be directed to the Oncology unit or your clinical nurse specialist. Your chemotherapy nurse will give you a red alert card with this 24-hour number and chemotherapy information booklet.

Cancer treatment helpline 0800 9177711 

If you need to contact the helpline, it would be helpful if:

• the helpline staff can speak directly to you
• you have checked your temperature and
• you can provide details of your last treatment

The cancer treatment helpline staff may ask a number of questions which may seem unrelated to the reason for your call. However, these questions allow them to give you the correct advice. At times of high call volumes to the cancer treatment helpline, your call may be diverted to a voicemail. Please ensure you leave a message and the cancer treatment helpline staff will call you back within 30 minutes. If your call is an emergency, you should hang up and call 999

The Cancer Treatment Helpline (CTH) is a Scotland wide service that offers patient triage which may result in a CAU attendance.  Patients with solid tumours are given the CTH alert card if receiving systemic anti cancer therapy (SACT) or Radiotherapy treatment and can contact the CTH during their treatment and for six weeks thereafter.

This is a national service which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and provides a triage assessment to patients who are receiving or have received specific cancer treatment if they feel unwell, ensuring that they access the most appropriate, effective and timely care if their condition is deteriorating.

Currently in Lothian there is a Triage Team from 9am to 5pm, staff in the Cancer Assessment Unit take the calls from 5-9pm then the Hospital at Night Team (HAN) receives triaged calls overnight.

The CTH is for patients who are on Systemic Anti-cancer Therapy (SACT) or Radiotherapy, who are currently on treatment or within 8 weeksof completion of treatment.

NHS Scotland launched a Cancer Treatment Helpline (CTH), with the aim of providing a safe, high quality and nationally consistent telephone triage service.

The service is for all patients who experience symptoms which could be related to the cancer treatment they are receiving and for 6 weeksfollowing their final treatment. It is not for general or medication enquiries – these calls should be made directly to the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Consultant via their secretary or your GP.

Your chemotherapy nurse will give you a red alert card with the CTH 24 hour number, see illustration above.

If contacting the helpline it would be helpful if the CTH call operator:

• Speaks directly to the patient
•  Is given a current temperature reading
• Is provided with the date of your last treatment

The CTH call operator will ask a number of questions which may seem unrelated to the reason for your call, but these allow them to provide you with the correct advice. Depending on the outcome of your phone assessment you will be advised what to do next. If you are advised to attend hospital it is important to remember this will in the first instance be for further assessment and not necessarily an admission to hospital. Please ensure you have thought in advance how you will get to the hospital. If an ambulance is your only option the team will organise this. Please note by agreeing to this you are agreeing to use this mode of transport and will not refuse to go to hospital on its arrival.

You will usually be asked to attend your closest hospital which may not necessarily be the place where you are receiving your cancer treatment. Please note every effort will be taken to see you promptly however you will be prioritised along with other patients according to outcomes from an initial assessment. Information about your attendance there will be shared with the Consultant who is supervising your cancer treatment and their team. If you are on holiday out with your postcode area then you should still call the CTH, but are likely to be advised to attend your nearest Accident and Emergency department.

Background

NHS Lothian has been awarded funding by the Scottish to support patients diagnosed with cancer. This service will initially run for a 12 month trial period and will cover a selected number of cancer types.

What is the Cancer Navigation Hub?

A phone-based Cancer Navigation Hub has been developed to answer calls from patients and healthcare professionals covering all cancer related enquiries. The team is made up of Cancer Pathway Coordinators. They are responsible for signposting service users to the appropriate healthcare area using their knowledge base of cancer pathways and working together with the many services across NHS Lothian and external partners, like

Who is it for?

This service is for anyone diagnosed with the following types of cancer (which have been selected for this trial): Urology Gynaecological Head and Neck Lung Melanoma (skin).

When is it available?

The Cancer Navigation Hub will be open for inbound calls Monday-Friday 9am-5pm (closed on most public holidays). Information on appropriate out-of-hours services is available on a pre-recorded message.

What help does it offer?

The Cancer Navigation Hub has been designed to help service users to navigate their way through, what can often be, complex cancer pathways. Calls will be directed to the most appropriate care team(s) including the cancer treatment helpline, clinical nurse specialist teams, treatment day units, and will act as a link to introduce patients to external agencies such as Macmillan – health related cancer support. Cancer Pathway Coordinators are trained to help patients with a variety of enquiries such as checking and rearranging appointments, scheduling of treatments, transport enquiries, and accessing interpretation and translation services.

How do you access?

The Cancer Navigation Hub can be accessed by calling: 0300 123 1600 Monday – Friday 9am-5pm* *Closed most public holidays

The Cancer Navigation Hub can be contacted on 0300 123 1600 and is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm (closed on most public holidays). Information on appropriate out-of-hours services is available on a pre-recorded message.

For all Compliments, Concerns & Complaints, please follow the link below to the main NHS Lothian website:

Tell us about your experience (Compliments, concerns and complaints) (nhslothian.scot)

You can also visit the Care Option website below

Care Opinion (external)

For all Freedom of Information requests, please follow the link below to the main NHS Lothian website:

Freedom of Information (FOI) (nhslothian.scot)