Contributed by Stephen Rowley
Cancer Prehab, or Prehabilitation, is a service to help prepare you for cancer treatment.
The aim is to use the time between diagnosis and treatment to:
- Improve your physical fitness
- Understand what kind of diet will help you best
- Develop good sleeping and resting skills
- Manage your mental health
A good prehab service will ensure you get timely access to specialists, resources and advice.
There are many services that deliver this in your local health centres, and some provide services online.
From our experience there are consultants don’t seem to know it exists, or forget to tell you. In other places, such as Manchester, you are automatically enrolled and start as soon as you are diagnosed.
Sadly there are NHS trusts which do not offer this service at all.
What is Prehab?
Firstly we advise you to watch a video we recorded with Tara Rampal, a Consultant Anaesthetist
If you cannot find a Prehab service locally, contact Kent and Medway Prehab who take online patients from across the country.
If you have one week, or one month before you start treatment – get started on Prehab.
Further information:
Cancer Research UK – What is Prehabilitation?
UK Prehab contacts
Bournemouth
Greater Manchester – Prehab4Cancer
If you know somewhere that does cancer prehab, please let us know so we can add them to the list.