Patients receiving cancer treatment across Teesside are benefiting from more personalised care thanks to a newly designed treatment area.
The chemotherapy day unit at The James Cook University Hospital which treats up to 60 patients a day, now has 18 specialist treatment chairs and a new central lounge area with designated zones.
The specialist comfortline recline chairs are designed with adjustable recline, leg elevation and tilt-in options and provide significant comfort and support to patients during treatment.
As well as enhanced comfort, patients also benefit from enhanced privacy and one-to-one personalised care.
The chairs are grouped into colour zones with a designated nurse allocated to each zone. Each nurse is responsible for providing care to every patient who receives treatment within those chairs, throughout the duration of their shift.
One of those is Pamela Mawson, who completed her last round of chemotherapy today. She praised the new treatment area for helping her to build a community of friends throughout her treatment and complimented the chairs for being extremely comfortable and relaxing.
Clare Allinson, head of nursing for the James Cook cancer institute & speciality medicine collaborative said: “Previously our patients attended the unit and sat in a generic seating area which was noisy, lacked privacy and space was limited.
“Since the addition of the new chairs, we have been able to create a relaxed treatment environment with designated zones for our patients which has helped to increase patient flow through the unit and allowed our nurses to deliver more individualised care.
Thanks to the generous donations to Our Hospitals Charity, we are now able to deliver a more streamline and efficient service for our patients and have been able to start work on increasing capacity so that more patients can receive treatment within the unit.”
Lisa Meehan, fundraising manager for Our Hospitals Charity said: “We are delighted to have been able to support the chemotherapy department with funding for the development of their new treatment area.
“The addition of the comfortline recliner chairs will be a huge benefit to so many, providing enhanced comfort, support and privacy for those undergoing chemotherapy treatment.”
A tour of the chemotherapy day unit can be found on the chemotherapy section of the website.