A big Thank You to all Health Care Professionals from Orchid

Dear Health Care Professionals,

We have been dealing with the challenges of Covid-19 for over a month now and as we all navigate our way through these unprecedented times Orchid, a charity committed to fighting male cancer for 24 years would like to take a moment to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our colleagues in the NHS who continue to deliver critical cancer diagnosis, treatment and care in the most challenging of circumstances.

Cancer doesn’t stop because we are in the middle of a pandemic.  Working together and joining up services has never been more urgent if we are to reduce the impact of Covid -19 on cancer services.

The pace and scale of the challenge we are facing is immense and in the current climate we are all having to rethink how we deliver services whilst we work remotely.  As a community more than ever we find ourselves depending on the continuation of your clinical and support services.  We recognise reduced opportunities for face to face engagement will compound already raised levels of service user anxiety and uncertainty and that as health care professionals it may not always be possible to respond to every question or concern posed when you are trying to balance logistical constraints and patient health and wellbeing during a national emergency.  This is frontline work which has to go on and Orchid would like to express its thanks and appreciation to the staff that are providing it.

As a voluntary organisation, Orchid is a trusted and reliable ‘go to’ community resource for service users, families and supporters worried about male cancer and as such we are in a strong position to help provide Information and support for our most vulnerable service users.

Since the government announced the unprecedented step of lock down on the 23rd March we have been experiencing an increase in the length of queries to our Male Cancer Nurse Specialist, who is responding to detailed questions about a male cancer concern. We have also seen a 51% increase in footfall to our microsite Your Privates.  As a result we are listening to patients, carers and supporters to understand their concerns and we’re providing information and a nurse-led helpline for those wanting to chat things through. We have extended our helpline capacity to 3 days a week (previously 2) to deal with this increased demand.

Orchid is committed to complementing NHS clinical work in any practical way we can and this includes resource dissemination, on line support, helpline support and virtual support group support.

On behalf of Orchid Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers we would like to pass on our deep appreciation and thanks for the work you continue to deliver.

Ali Orhan

Interim CEO

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