Share the care
Important advice for healthcare professionals caring for pregnant or
recently pregnant people approaching the end of their life with cancer.
12th - 16th May 2025 #HPAW25 #ShareTheCare
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Welcome to our very first Healthcare Professionals Awareness Week!
We’ll spend the next 5 days focusing on how cancer in or around pregnancy might present in a General Practice setting. Our aim is to increase the likelihood of early diagnosis and thus improve prognosis for the
two people a day diagnosed with cancer in or around a pregnancy.
Day 1 | Keep the balance
Being pregnant or recently pregnant when you are diagnosed with cancer is a complex and overwhelming situation, for both patient and professionals to manage. As the focus of care changes from active management to a more palliative approach, the complexity grows.
Your patient now stands in the middle of a metaphorical see-saw. On one side is all the medical care and intervention they will need to manage the end of their life as comfortably as possible. On the other, all the responsibilities and expectations of a young family, including the desperate desire to just be a mum, doing mum things, and being with her loved ones for as much as she can.
How do you help keep the balance between these important but sometimes conflicting necessities?
Resources
[LINK] Read the findings of the 2024 MBRRACE-UK report which discovered "significant challenges in balancing medical, palliative care with considerate, compassionate end-of-life care for pregnant or recently pregnant women with cancer.”
[LINK] Our key advice for medical professionals keeping the balance for their end of life patients.
Day 2 | Hear mum's voice
Facing the reality of a life limiting illness while pregnant or recently pregnant is a unique and deeply challenging experience that only a small number of patients go through. This means that the needs and wishes they have regarding their care, that are specific to their role as parent, mother and partner, could be unusual or surprising to many healthcare professionals.
Mum is facing immense uncertainty, and as her medical team, you may be too - especially if you've never supported someone in this situation before.
As with any patient, we encourage you to place mum's voice at the heart of her care plan. By actively listening to all of mum’s needs and concerns, and working together to find flexible solutions, we can provide the best possible support for mum as a whole person.
Resources
[LINK] Case Study - NWMMN
[LINK] Information on Advance Care Planning (CID or NICE)
[LINK] Compassion in Dying Healthcare Professionals Hub (resources)
[LINK] CID Rethinking the UK's Approach to Dying report
LINK CID blog post Time for a change: how doctors and patients can work together
[LINK] Our key advice on keeping mum's voice at the centre of her care plan
Day 3 | Look beyond medicine
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For a pregnant or recently pregnant cancer patient, approaching end of life is infinitely more complex than most. Their fears, sadness, anger and grief are unavoidably heightened by their age and having young dependants.
There is an incredible amount of work and effort required to meet all your patient’s needs and you do not need to carry all that care alone. There are fantastic charities and organisations who can be looped in to provide holistic, person and family centred support, freeing you to focus on mum’s medical care.
Resources
Day 4 | Share the care
For a pregnant or recently pregnant cancer patient, approaching end of life is infinitely more complex than most. Their fears, sadness, anger and grief are unavoidably heightened by their age and having young dependants.
There is an incredible amount of work and effort required to meet all your patient’s needs and you do not need to carry all that care alone. There are fantastic charities and organisations who can be looped in to provide holistic, person and family centred support, freeing you to focus on mum’s medical care.
Resources
Day 5 | Take the pledge
For a pregnant or recently pregnant cancer patient, approaching end of life is infinitely more complex than most. Their fears, sadness, anger and grief are unavoidably heightened by their age and having young dependants.
There is an incredible amount of work and effort required to meet all your patient’s needs and you do not need to carry all that care alone. There are fantastic charities and organisations who can be looped in to provide holistic, person and family centred support, freeing you to focus on mum’s medical care.
Resources
Real Life Stories & Articles
Nicola's life was potentially saved by the Practice Nurse who noticed the mole on her arm at a routine whooping cough vaccination appointment.
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