Macmillan provides quality-assured information about living with cancer, and we direct people to other services and sources of support available.
Our health and social care professionals offer information and support to people affected by cancer and their families - of those, 143 are information and support specialists.
The Macmillan CancerLine
The Macmillan CancerLine provides free information and emotional support for people with cancer, their families, friends and carers. Our operators listen to concerns and put people in touch with the right support for them, whether it's a Macmillan service, another organisation offering information or guidance, or a local self help and support group.
Over 33,000 people contacted the CancerLine in 2005, by phone, email and letter. In 2006 we will launch a service for South Asian people affected by cancer. Three new operators will be available who speak Punjabi, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi, and bring an understanding and heightened awareness of the cultural issues affecting people from minority ethnic communities.
More and more young people have been contacting the CancerLine needing to talk and get information from someone who really understands them.
'Thank you for your supportive email, my mother-in-law has come through her surgery, and thanks to you we have made an application to Macmillan for a grant for a shower to help her on her return home...Your Macmillan nurses are amazing and I would not have known about them without ringing your CancerLine.'
Email the CancerLine at cancerline@macmillan.org.uk
Information and support services
We have around 115 cancer information and support services in hospitals, public libraries and walk in centres throughout the UK, and we are planning many more projects. When people visit our centres they get to talk through issues and concerns with our staff and trained volunteers. The centres hold booklets, leaflets, videos and other sources of information about cancer, and some centres can offer support groups and complementary therapies.
Mobile Macmillan Cancer Information Centre
Our Mobile Information Centres are specially designed units that provide free and confidential cancer information and support to everyone. The services are staffed by trained information specialists, and stocked with a wide selection of information resources. They visit a range of venues, from high streets to air shows, so the services can reach people who may not be aware of the other services that Macmillan and other organisations can offer them.
'For the last two years I haven't been able to speak to anyone - seeing this here and being able to call in and speak to someone has been wonderful.'