A north Wales cancer team has been honoured with a Macmillan award for their role in helping patients.

Jackie Pottle is a Macmillan Cancer Allied Health Professional Therapy Lead based in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Alongside Consultant Clinical Psychologist Lisa Heaton-Brown, Jackie helped spearhead the development of a new service designed to raise awareness and improve support for cancer patients suffering with fatigue.

Jackie was presented with Macmillan’s prestigious Innovation Excellence Award.

It is an award that recognises how the tireless work of cancer professionals continually helps to improve outcomes and experiences for people living with cancer.

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The award follows a detailed evaluation in 2019, which highlighted that while cancer-related fatigue was the most prevalent symptom experienced by cancer patients, no specific support services existed to address it in north Wales.

As a result, the Clinical Psychology and Occupational Therapy services at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board teamed up to develop an innovative new support and training programme.

Speaking on behalf of the wider team, Jackie said: “I am very honoured to receive this award, not just for myself but also on behalf of my colleagues for their tireless work in setting up this new service together.

“Feedback from cancer patients who have benefited from the initiative is that they feel the new programme validates their own experiences – it acknowledges that fatigue is a very real and physically debilitating issue. 

“The outcome was that individual cancer patients felt they received direct, personalised support and developed coping strategies to help them to manage their fatigue in the future. The use of innovative, virtual peer support was vital in providing the support they so desperately needed.”

Richard Pugh, Head of Partnerships for Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales said: “We couldn’t be more proud of Jackie and the wider team for what they have achieved.

“Cancer can affect every part of a person’s life and what Jackie’s work has done is not only to drill down into the very real issues facing cancer patients, but to develop a highly personalised level of support for people with cancer facing those issues in north Wales.

“We have to offer a huge thanks to Jackie and everyone involved in this pioneering new project for making such a determined effort to improve care cancer care even within such a challenging environment.”