New booklet gives guidance on end of life care for pancreatic cancer patients

The charity launched the booklet after consulting with doctors, nurses, specialists and people previously bereaved and hearing that patients had struggled to find the right tailored information.

The booklet includes information about the symptoms people with pancreatic cancer may get towards the end of their life and how to manage these. There is also information about how to access the care and support they might need, dealing with the emotional impact of dying from the condition, and specific information for family members.

The free resource has been reviewed by healthcare professionals to ensure all information included is accurate and up to date. People who have had a loved one die from pancreatic cancer also took part in the review process, to ensure the content was relevant and easy to understand. Gail Mulvaney, whose husband Sam died from pancreatic cancer, said:

“Pancreatic cancer is different to many other cancers as it progresses so quickly and you are dealing with different horrors every day. If we had realised the realities of what a late stage diagnosis of pancreatic cancer meant, the whole experience could have been less traumatic.

“The ‘Pancreatic cancer and end of life care’ booklet gives clear and detailed information about what to expect. I think that if it had been available to us at the time, we would have been better prepared for what was to (very quickly) come.”

Jeni Jones, Pancreatic Cancer Nurse Specialist at Pancreatic Cancer UK said:

“Although there is a lot of general information available about cancer and end of life care, this resource will be an enormous help to patients and families because it is pancreas specific. Sadly, I think the resource will be very pertinent due to the high number of pancreatic cancer patients who will have been given a life limiting prognosis.

The ‘Pancreatic cancer and end of life care: information for people in the last few months, weeks or days of life’ booklet is a free resource and can be downloaded or ordered from the Pancreatic Cancer UK website.