device helps cancer treatment side effects Rosemere Cancer Foundation

As well as life-changing clinical research projects and top-of-the-range medical equipment, we also fund items and projects that help relieve stress for patients across the region. One such project is the provision of free-of-charge complementary therapies for patients and carers to help alleviate anxiety and discomfort while going through their treatment, or while caring for someone who is.

We’re delighted to let you know that, with a commitment of £70,000 from our charitable funds, we recently guaranteed the provision of complementary therapy for cancer patients at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust until 2027!

Patients and their carers can request up to six no-cost sessions at either an holistic therapy studio in Preston or within the cancer unit at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

Holistic and oncology massage therapist Krista Chadwick (pictured here at her studio) said: “Patients and those going through the cancer treatment journey alongside them are often very emotional and so incredibly grateful for the service. In it, they find respite and the strength to stay positive. Some patients also feel it helps them cope better with treatment side-effects.”

Data Krista collated last year, shows that 150 cancer patients and 13 carers from across PR postcodes took up the offer of the funded complementary therapy. Of these, 124 were female and 39 male and they ranged in age from their 20s to their 80s. Most of the patients (97) who requested complementary therapy were undergoing chemotherapy at the time of their sessions, but patients undergoing radiotherapy and immunotherapy also took up the service.

As well as funding therapies at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, we’ve also given £20,280 to Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (an amount matched by the Trust’s own charity Blue Skies Hospitals Fund) to guarantee a similar service for Fylde Coast patients. These reflexology, aromatherapy massage, or guided relaxation sessions will take place at the Macmillan Windmill Unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital or Fleetwood Community Hub.

Macmillan lead cancer nurse Jessica Jones, who applied for this funding for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said: “Both charities have funded the complementary therapy service for a number of years. The service receives regular feedback from patients and is extremely positive. We have never received a negative comment. In fact, oncology staff see the benefits gained by patients who take up complementary therapy and this enhances their job satisfaction.

“Patients use the service to boost their physical, spiritual and/or emotional health and well-being with many believing it helps to relieve the side-effects of their conventional medical treatments.”

We also awarded University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust £27,622 (as did the Bay Hospitals Charity) to pay for aromatherapy treatments up until the end of March 2026.

Under this scheme, cancer patients and those helping them through their treatment journey can undergo a course of sessions delivered by qualified CancerCare therapists at centres in Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal and Barrow as well as at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Westmorland and Furness General Hospitals.

Thank you SO much to all who helped raise the funds to support this – there is a huge amount of documented evidence highlighting the many benefits of complementary therapies in people undergoing cancer treatment, and we know our patients are very appreciative of the service!