New social care service for young people with cancer

Children’s cancer charity Young Lives vs Cancer has transformed the way it supports young people and their families facing cancer by introducing an enhanced social care service.

The charity, formerly known as CLIC Sargent, is introducing a blended model of face-to-face and digital delivery.

The impact of Covid-19 dramatically reduced the amount of face-to-face support Young Lives vs Cancer was able to provide over the last year, so the charity used it as an opportunity to increase the digital support it offers through its website and social media channels.

A newly created central support and social care team is now available nationally to provide information, advice and signposting to young people with cancer and families, digitally; while local social care teams based in primary care trusts can focus on in-person interventions for young people and families with more complex needs; such as bereavement and trauma.

The new, tiered approach will provide young people and their families with different levels of support throughout their cancer journey and is a way of triaging, based on a needs-led social worker assessment.

The charity said the model will help the charity run a much more efficient and sustainable service. Young Lives vs Cancer supports children and their families from the time of diagnosis to the end of cancer treatment.

The changes will enable the charity to extend the length of time it can support families. It will now provide up to 18 months’ support (an extra six months) for bereaved families to help them beyond the incredibly challenging first anniversary of a child’s death.

Lynn Charlton, associate director of social care services at Young Lives vs Cancer said: ‘Children, young people and their families are at the heart of our new service care model. We want them to have a consistent experience of accessing support from Young Lives vs Cancer.

‘We believe everyone has the right to high quality, holistic support that reflects their needs. The significant changes we have made to our social care services will enable us to reach more children and families, more quickly and to support them for longer.’

Social care teams at the charity can now access a one-stop-shop Social Care Hub to access information and resources, including a new external charities’ database to signpost young people and families more efficiently to other services that are closer to their home.

For more information click here.

Photo Credit – Creative Christians