Cancer Care in the Post-Covid World: A UK and European Perspective on Learning from the Pandemic

This Open Access textbook covers the effects impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Cancer care and how health care professionals and people with a cancer diagnosis have been affected. It discusses current research covering COVID and Cancer and considers the different impacts on patients with solid tumours and those with a haematological malignancy. The authors critically appraise how technology has been used to combat the pandemic as well as impacts on patient management and their well-being, education of health care professionals as well as the delivery of oncology cancer treatments. They also examine the ongoing psychological effects on patients, health care professionals and provide an analysis of the effects of the pandemic on the charitable sector in cancer care. Importantly this book provides both a UK and a European perspective on the above as well as looking forward to appraise the long-term effect of the pandemic on cancer care, both positive and negative.

Mark Foulkes has been in post as Nurse Consultant and Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse at the Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust since 2007. He is the current President of the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS). He has been a UKONS board member since 2018 where he edits the twice-monthly e-newsletter and is a board representative for the UK Lead Cancer Nurse Members Interest Group.He is a clinical member of the Acute Oncology Team and, during the COVID-19 pandemic he continued to work at the Royal Berkshire Hospital seeing patients. He also worked strategically to help manage the Trusts response to the crisis. He helped establish the Trust’s staff COVID swabbing regimen and the hospital’s virtual Cancer Rehabilitation sessions, which have been very successful. Mark has presented widely on a range of subjects and has a particular interest in nurse-led services, innovative approaches to cancer care delivery and the political backdrop to cancer services. He has previously co-edited the Second edition of The Oxford University Press Handbook of Oncology Nursing, as well as recently completing The Fundamentals of Cancer Care as the lead editor.
Helen Roe has been a key member of the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS) for many years, including the role of Board member and President. Until the end of 2022 on a day-to-day basis she was employed as Consultant Cancer Nurse by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which is part of the Northern Cancer Alliance in the UK. Previously she was a Consultant Editor for the British Journal of Nursing Oncology supplement.

She worked in adult cancer care for most of her career and felt privileged to have fulfilled the role of Consultant Cancer Nurse, which enabled her to remain clinical day to day, yet also be active in research, service developments and educating others. Throughout her career she developed a wealth of skills, knowledge and expertise in patient care, leadership and service development, all of which influenced her day-to-day practice and ultimately the patient care she and others provided.

Her specialist area of clinical expertise was the management of patients with breast cancer, from receiving neo-adjuvant treatments through to end-of-life care. This involved assessing patients; managing symptoms and treatment toxicities, prescribing, requesting radiological investigations, developing and leading services and ensuring patients were offered the opportunities to take part in research. She presented at many conferences, from local to international; published extensively on an array of topics and constantly explored ways to enhance patient care throughout her career.

Dr Andreas Charalambous, BSc, MSc, PGCert (Research), PhD (Oncology Nursing), started his nursing career in 1995. He obtained his BSc in Nursing Science in 1999 by the Northumbria University (U.K), his MSc (Nursing Science) in 2002 and his PhD (Oncology Nursing) in 2008 from Middlesex University (UK). He has a proven track in academia since 2004. Ηe is the Chair of the Nursing Department at the Cyprus University of Technology where he works as an Associate Professor of Oncology and Palliative Care and he also holds the position of an Adjunct Professor at University of Turku (Finland). He is the founder and Past-President of the Cyprus Oncology Nursing Society, European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) Past-President and European Cancer Organization President-Elect. He is also the Founder of the Cancer Nursing Fund. He is involved in National and International research programs (HORIZON2020, ERASMUS+, COST) in various fields of cancer care. Examples of externally funded projects include: PI in the ERASMUS+ project PROLEPSIS and PI (Cyprus team) in the ERAMUS+ project HERO, PI (Cyprus team) in the HORIZON project INCISIVE. He has published over 150 National and International publications in esteemed journals.