Who are we?

We are the Gynae-Oncology team at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Clinical Nurse Specialist Kate Pullman of Royal Hampshire County Hospital, CNS Sara Desouza of Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Cancer Support Worker Cass Atkinson who works across both hospitals.

We are a small team of Macmillan professionals who strive to provide the best services to our patients. Kate has been the department for over 10 years, Sara over 3 years and Cass just over 12 months.

Kate and Sara have for many years wanted to start or help organise support services for the gynae-oncology patients, but between them, had too little time to organise. So, a bid was presented to Macmillan to fund a support worker who could join the team and enable Kate and Sara’s wishes become a reality. After a successful application, in 2020, Cass was appointed as the CSW.

One of the first things which was discussed in the team were support services specifically for the gynae-oncology patients. Cass was eager to begin however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, things did not move as easily as we had liked. So, applications were presented to both Winchester and Basingstoke Councils for an allotment plot and conversations were had for a face-to-face support group. As the trust spans north Hampshire, it was not an easy decision to make for services to be available to all patients. In the beginning, we had no idea of how to work this and had to rely on patient input to where they would be prepared to travel. 2020 became a stagnant year for both support services and we just had to roll with it.

In January 2021, we decided to make headway with both services, as the pandemic was looking like it was at a stable place, and patients and alike were becoming more and more vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Communication began again with the allotment services, and an application was sent for funding for a room for a support group.

Within days, the application was granted, and an allotment plot became available!

We have had many emails toing and froing, visits to sites, and conversations and we had agreed on the whereabouts of the support services – one in Winchester and one in Basingstoke.

The Winchester support service is the allotment – based in Winchester and a service available to the HHFT gynae-oncology patients once a week, and the Basingstoke support service is the face-to-face support group available to the HHFT gynae-oncology patients once a month.

The allotment began in February 2022 as did the support group and intend for both to continue for many years.