Welcome

It is a clinical service dedicated to the care and support of teenagers and young adults who were treated for cancer or leukaemia (or certain related conditions) in childhood, during their teenage years or as young adults.

Most young adults who have been successfully treated for cancer live healthy lives, but some suffer from the long-term effects of their cancer or its treatment.

SW Aftercare aims to provide you with information about your treatment and its possible effects on your future health. By offering you an individualised assessment and by providing you with recommendations for future monitoring, we hope we will help you understand whether there are any concerns about your health now or in the future.

If any problems do occur, we are able to refer you to other specialists for help and support. 

If you are already being treated for problems relating to your cancer treatment, we will try to help co-ordinate your care and ensure that special knowledge about the consequences of cancer treatment in childhood is shared with any other doctors you may be seeing. 

Attendance at the clinic is an optional part of your care after completing treatment for cancer. 

Nevertheless, we strongly recommend that all young people are given the opportunity to be seen in a SW Aftercare clinic at some point, so we can help them decide what they want to do about follow-up in the future. 

Normally, we offer appointments to anyone who is 11 years or over and for whom at least five years has passed since their cancer diagnosis (and at least three or more years since they completed treatment). 

However, our appointment rules are flexible, and we sometimes see people even when they do not fit these criteria. 

How often you come to clinic after your first assessment depends on what you and the aftercare team decide. It will depend on whether we think you need any tests, or if we suggest there are reasons why you need to be monitored more carefully. This will be discussed with you the first time you come to clinic.

Many of our patients attend the clinic only once a year, or at less frequent intervals. After a time, we may agree that there is no need for someone to continue to attend the clinic. If this is the case for you, we will provide you and your GP with all the information we think you need for the future.

Even if you no longer attend clinic, you and your GP will still be able to contact us for advice and information. If necessary, we will arrange for you to return to see us in clinic, and this can be done without any worry about the need for formal re-referral or joining a waiting list. 

SW Aftercare clinics are not meant to replace the relationship that you have with your GP or with any other health professionals you may be seeing. 

We want to provide you with information about your previous cancer treatment that will help you and your GP to decide if any special care needs to be taken over your healthcare in the future. 

We will write letters to you after each clinic visit and copy it to your GP and, with your permission, to anyone else who may be involved in your care. 

These letters will provide a record of the plan we make with you in clinic. This is your care plan, the letter will also contain a record of your previous treatments, this is your treatment summary.

After your first visit to the SW Aftercare clinic, we will also provide you with a copy of a record of your previous treatment. This is your treatment summary. You may find it helpful to share this, and your care plan, with any other doctors you see in the future. 

Apart from talking about your current health and whether or not you have any new concerns, we will usually talk to you, when appropriate, about some or all of the following things:

• understanding your cancer and its treatment

• referral to other professionals or specialist teams if needed

• the need for any additional tests or check-ups 

• healthy lifestyle advice

• support in making healthcare decisions

• fertility advice

• advice about education and employment

• advice about benefits and insurance

• psychological support

Yes. You are welcome to bring your partner or a friend if you would like their support. In the past, you probably came to clinic with your parents, and they are still welcome to come with you. 

However, we would recommend you have part of the consultation alone as it may be helpful to ask questions that you may find difficult to ask when others are present.

All the information you share with us will be treated in the strictest confidence.

If you have any questions before your first visit to Aftercare Clinic, you are welcome to contact the team.

On the day of your appointment, either a nurse specialist or doctor will conduct a detailed review of your previous treatment, and a discussion of what this means for your future health.

They will be able to answer any questions you may have, and may undertake a physical examination appropriate to the things you have discussed together. Before the consultation ends, they will talk to you about the next steps and agree your care plan with you.

If you have possible (or already established) hormone problems, you may also see another doctor who is an endocrinologist (hormone specialist).

From time to time, we may have other qualified or student health professionals visiting our clinic to gain experience of aftercare. We will introduce them to you, but please do not be afraid to say if you would rather see us on your own.

The first visit to SW Aftercare can take at least an hour. We hope you will find it useful to have such an in-depth review and that you can make the time available. Follow-up appointments are usually allocated for up to half an hour.

We want to give all our patients enough time to discuss whatever might be on their mind. Because of this, some appointments take longer than expected. We try to avoid this as far as is possible, but apologise if you ever find your own appointment is delayed.

We collect and analyse information about the problems we see in young people who have survived cancer in childhood. We use this information to help us improve the care we offer through SW Aftercare clinics. 

We may also share our conclusions with other teams doing similar work elsewhere, nationally and internationally. We never share personally identifiable information about anyone without their permission. 

From time to time, we run specific studies investigating particular problems for young cancer survivors. We may ask to talk to you about a study and, before you have to decide whether or not you wish to take part, you will receive written information specific to that study and you will be given an opportunity to ask questions. 

Even if you decide you do not want to take part in a study, this will not affect our commitment to offer you the best possible care and advice.