Category Archives: Cancer

Drop-in centre launched for north Norfolk cancer patients and their families

April 21, 2017   Cancer, Carers, Featured Article, health, Norfolk

North Norfolk Cancer Support Drop-in Centre founders (from left): Jo Haywood, Judith Miller and Diane Evans. Photo: KAREN BETHELL

A drop-in group for people living with cancer has been launched at Sheringham.

With a start-up grant from a local singing group and the backing of Macmillan Cancer Support.

The drop-in was the idea of Macmillan North Norfolk fundraising team members Diane Evans, Judith Miller and Jo Haywood, who, concerned about the limited support available to cancer sufferers and their families in the area, decided to take action.

Mrs Evans, who is a founder member of Sheringham women’s social and charity group Sisters in Spirit, which has raised upwards of £10,000, hoped the new group would bridge the gap between treatment and support.

“Talking to people, one of the things we heard over and over was that they couldn’t get a Macmillan nurse,” Mrs Evans explained. “But, realistically, with so many people affected that is an impossibility, so we felt there was a real need to offer something more visible in north Norfolk.

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This social care crisis is hitting very close to home

March 11, 2017   Cancer, Carers, disability, Featured Article, Norfolk, Social care, ukcuts

Away from work, it’s adult social care I’ve been thinking about. In fact, that’s been at the forefront of my thinking for some time.

In 2015, my mum was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer – a disease which, within months, had claimed her life.

I’ll never have to worry about social care for my mum. But it’s another story for her mother – my grandma.

A couple of years before mum was diagnosed, she and my dad took the decision to bring my widowed grandma down from Middlesbrough to live with them.

Obviously my parents did not factor in that one of them might not be around to look after her. Some of the final months of my mum’s life were spent worrying about where her mother would live once she was gone.

When mum died, my father tried again to get grandma, who will be 100 in four years, into residential care. We were told she could go on the waiting list for a care home.

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Big firms MUST change the insensitive way they treat bereaved families

June 24, 2015   bereavement, Cancer, Carers, family, Featured Article

 ‘When mum died, Lloyds made the grief even harder to bear

Close-knit: Money Mail writer Victoria Bischoff and her mum Julie, who died in April

  • When Victoria Bischoff’s mother Julie died in April, Lloyds were unhelpful
  • They made her call automated service and sent computer-generated letters
  • An insensitive customer service adviser asked a series of intrusive questions and didn’t know the rules about credit card debts
  • Other organisations such as the local council were much better 

By Victoria Bischoff for the Daily Mail

Published: 01:12, 24 June 2015 | Updated: 07:41, 24 June 2015

Mum had been a customer at Lloyds Bank for around 25 years. The staff in her local branch in Coventry knew her well, so they had recognised me the moment I came through the door.

The woman behind the counter went pale. ‘You’re Julie’s daughter, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘I know what you’re here to say.’

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