Case study:

11 May 2010

Headstart at Swaffham & Litcham Home Hospice

Key points

Staff at Swaffham & Litcham Home Hospice have set up a service to help women who suffer hair loss as a result of their cancer treatment.

Headstart provides advice and shows women how to wear scarves or other headwear to obscure the effects of their hair loss.

The service helps women to feel better about themselves and have confidence about going out in public. “It makes me feel good about myself, and I much appreciated the individual attention I received,” commented one patient.

Financed by hospice funds, the service is now advertised in local hospital oncology departments as well as through leaflets, talks to local GPs and fund-raising groups and this has helped raise its visibility.

Initially it was difficult to find an appropriate place for the consultations because of lack of space and one solution was to take the service to patients’ homes. But following an expansion of the offices, a private room is now used for the service.

There were also problems finding an appropriate time in a patient’s treatment to fit in the appointment. This has now been overcome by good liaison with hospital oncology departments who direct patients to the service at the right time.