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In 2008 Rigshospitalet employed a nurse who is responsible for intensifying the overall rehabilitation efforts for the hospital’s cancer patients. These efforts have resulted in better support for patients and a number of activities and information courses for patients, relatives and professional staff.

In order for cancer patients and their relatives to live meaningful everyday lives during and after treatment they need support and care in that the diagnosis, treatment and side effects mean patients must redefine their everyday lives. It is estimated that about two-thirds of all cancer patients need rehabilitation, of whom half have special and complex problems.

Therefore Rigshospitalet’s cancer rehabilitation nurse is responsible for teaching and upgrading health service staff in rehabilitating cancer patients, implementing local offers of rehabilitation to cancer patients and developing tools to identify the needs of rehabilitation.

Concrete efforts
Efforts have resulted in a number of local offers of support. The support includes teaching patients and relatives about radiation therapy and informing them about after-effects, changes in lifestyle as well as changes in body/sexuality.

Rigshospitalet is working in close collaboration with the City of Copenhagen Health Centre for Cancer Patients which provides municipal offers of rehabilitation and also includes the Advisory Centre of the Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse). A new initiative introduced in 2008 is to offer “entrepreneurial support” of DKK 50,000 for four projects within development and research in cancer rehabilitation. The projects are expected to be carried out in the coming years and the plan is for rehabilitation to be part of the cancer packages.

Project Body & Cancer (Krop & Kræft)
Furthermore, cancer patients at Rigshospitalet will be offered to participate in the project “Body & Cancer” - a physical training process that should result in improving physical fitness, producing fewer side effects and providing a higher quality of life for cancer patients. There is now scientific documentation of the beneficial effects on patients’ participation in the project which has now been made a permanent treatment offer at Rigshospitalet for all patients from Zealand.

Project “Body & Cancer” is mostly financed by external foundations and research councils.

Read more about Rigshospitalet’s offers of rehabilitation of cancer patients on www.rehabilitering.rh.dk (In Danish) or www.kropogkraeft.rh.dk (In Danish).