A new play called ‘Cancer Tales’ written to express the voices of people whose lives have been touched by cancer was performed at the West Park conference centre as part of a study day for nurses involved in cancer care.
Cancer Tales by Nell Dunn is based on real life stories of five women and their experiences of support when cancer affected their families. The playwright explains: "I didn’t know what it meant for one person to support another through a crisis. I can remember friends and lovers going through horrific things and not knowing how to help, the numb feeling of no man’s land. By writing Cancer Tales I got on the trail like a good detective. I began to fathom out what it is people can do for one another."
Earlier in the day the nurses heard talks from experts in cancer care. Shelley Dolan from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London spoke on the nurse consultant role in high dependency care and Janet Baxter from Tayside University Hospitals explained the importance of the correct and careful nutrition for cancer patients.
Organiser of the study day Mary Wells, clinical research fellow in cancer nursing in the school of nursing and midwifery said: "The study day was a great opportunity for nurses and other health care professionals to listen more carefully to the individual experiences of patients with cancer, and to think about thorough and holistic assessments of patients’ needs during periods of acute illness."