Beyond Diagnosis: personalised cancer support for the people of Nottinghamshire.
Helping you live your life well after a cancer diagnosis.
Since 2015 Self Help UK, in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, have been providing support to people living with cancer and those who care about them. Together with our wonderful volunteers, we have supported over 1,700 people individually as well as many others through our support to peer support groups.
Personalised support
We offer a person-centred service, concentrating our support on what matters most to you and helping find solutions that meet your needs. Our service will look different for different people. Some of the ways we can support you:
- General support – preparing for hospital appointments, liaising with clinicians, support with completing forms, advocacy.
- Practical support – support with IT, moving furniture, one-off house clean/garden maintenance, accompanying you to a hospital appointment.
- Emotional support – helping you to reconnect with family and friends, building confidence, listening and providing support.
We provide services in Nottingham City and across most of Nottinghamshire.
To make a referral:
- complete the referral form [.docx]
- email [email protected]
- call 0115 911 1662
We aim to be in contact with an allocated worker within 3 weeks of referral.
Other help and support available:
- Macmillan Information Centres within Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital and Kings Mill Hospital
- The Macmillan Support Line – open 7 days a week from 8am till to 8pm 0808 808 00 00
Frequently asked questions
We guarantee we will contact you within 3 weeks of receiving your referral. It is usually earlier than this.
The service typically lasts 4-12 weeks but is tailored to your needs. We will help you to build the support networks you need. If things change and you need more support, you can come back and ask for help from us again.
A Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) is a conversation with you to work out what support you need from us, based on what is concerning you most right now. This ensures we get the right information and support to meet your needs.
Our volunteers offer a variety of practical and emotional support. Many of them have been impacted by cancer themselves, so have some idea of what you are going through. Not everyone will be referred for a volunteer; it depends on what your needs are and what support you need from us.
We are Self Help UK. Our service is run in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support. This means our staff are Macmillan professionals and can access training and information from the national charity. We work closely with other Macmillan services locally and nationally to ensure you get the benefit of all Macmillan Cancer Support has to offer.
The Beyond Diagnosis team run some groups to support people with cancer. You don’t need to be getting support from Beyond Diagnosis to access any of these groups. Self Help UK supports many peer support groups, some of which are cancer specific. Visit our Groups pages for more details or feel free to phone and talk to us about them.
Yes. We know that once you have had a cancer diagnosis you may still feel anxious at times. We are here for anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer or impacted by another diagnosis – no matter when.
Yes, we support people at the end of life. We are not a care service so cannot provide any personal care but can help with the practical and emotional side. People often struggle to have conversations about death with those close to them. Having someone outside of your close family and friends to talk things through with can be helpful. We can also support the people who love you both before and after your death.
Yes. If you have needs which are not directly related to your cancer, we may help you find an alternative service if someone else could better meet your needs.
You can either ask your cancer or community nurse to refer you or phone us directly. We have an application form which you can send to us by post or email. If you phone us, we can take your referral over the phone.
Macmillan Cancer Support currently give us a grant which pays for a lot of the costs associated with this service. Costs like rent and management costs are not currently funded. Any donations made in support of this service go towards ensuring Self Help UK continues to deliver valuable support services across Nottinghamshire.
