The Thinking Ahead programme
A wellbeing course for people living with incurable cancer and their family members
Thinking Ahead
Helping you look after yourself, find out about support services and plan ahead.
What is the Thinking Ahead programme?
Thinking Ahead is a Health and Wellbeing Education Programme for patients living with incurable cancer, who may or may not be receiving cancer treatment, and their family members/carers.
The aims of the Thinking Ahead programme are:
- To help keep patients as well as possible for as long as possible
- To encourage living life to the full in a supported, self-managed way
- To offer support to family members
- To give advice on local services and how to access them when needed
- To allow an opportunity to consider future planning towards the end of life
- To give an opportunity to meet key people who may be able to help in the future
- To offer time for questions and concerns
What’s included in the programme?
Lots of professionals join the sessions to talk about important topics such as managing uncertainty and fatigue, sorting financial affairs, diet and appetite, keeping active, managing cancer progression, faith and spirituality, relaxation and an introduction to hospice services. The course introduces ‘Advance Care Planning’, helping people start to think about and plan for the end of life, recording wishes and making these known to family members and medical teams.
How does the Thinking Ahead programme run?
The Thinking Ahead Programme runs three times a year. Two of these courses will be face to face for Harrogate and District patients and these will run over three weeks. These will be held in the Ripley Room at the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre and the dates and times of the next course are shown opposite.
One of these courses will be an online course run alongside Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust. The online course will run over seven weeks.
Patients and family members are welcome to join the course and family are welcome even if the patient does not want to join.
What have people said about the Thinking Ahead course?
We understand that this can be a hard course to book onto due to some difficult and emotional topics. However, people who have attended the course in the past have said how helpful the course was, that they felt supported and calmer, and that it was sensitively and professionally delivered. Families said it helped them talk for the first time about difficult topics around end of life and find peace knowing that issues were dealt with.
Confidentiality
Although this course is a collaborative course run by four different hospital trusts, there is an agreement in place to protect your confidentiality and no clinical information will be shared outside of your own hospital. Only staff from your own hospital trust will know anything about your diagnosis and treatment. Just your name, email address and phone number will be shared with the staff organising each Thinking Ahead programme, and this data will be deleted after each course. Full details about confidentiality will be given to you in a privacy notice when you book a place and you will also be asked to complete a booking/consent form.
Thinking Ahead Films
The hospital trusts have made some films about Thinking Ahead, with attendees and professionals talking about the benefits of the programme.
Case studies
Case study: Sam
Case study: Matt
Case study: Richard
What is the Thinking Ahead programme? (Five Minute Film)
A film to encourage professionals to refer people onto the Thinking Ahead programme
Thinking Ahead podcast
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance have recorded a podcast to promote the Thinking Ahead Programme for patients with incurable cancer and their family members. Richard, who has incurable pancreatic cancer, talks about the benefits he found in attending the programme and shares the conversation with Helen Jones, former Project Manager for the Thinking Ahead Programme and Sue Ormesher, Communications and Engagement Officer for the Cancer Alliance.
As a carer this course was hugely helpful – it helped me understand what my sister is going through and I feel better able to support her.
The course helped to shift my focus from dying with cancer to living well with it and making the most of my time.
The palliative care sessions took away a lot of fear and calmed my worries. Knowing I have options and choices around end of life is really helpful.
The Thinking Ahead Programme was as important for my mental health, as the cancer treatment was for my physical health. The programme helped to give me a focus and sense of worth.
I would not have talked to anyone about my future wishes if I hadn’t joined this group.
I wasn’t brave enough to ask things on my own, but being together in a group of people in the same situation, helped me to ask about things that were on my mind.
The Thinking Ahead programme has been excellent with great guest speakers who spoke with compassion.
The course gave lots of information and answered questions I didn’t know I had. The group also helped me feel less alone.
It’s so helpful to have the support from lots of knowledgeable staff and to have conversations with other people in a similar situation.
All the topics have been useful – I didn’t know what I needed to know.
The course is really about caring for the whole person, rather than being lost as an NHS number.
I feel so much calmer having done the Thinking Ahead Course and knowing that I am not alone in supporting my husband.
| Week | Session date | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Thursday 1st October 1 - 3:30pm. Ripley Room, SROMC | • Welcome • Sharing stories/introduction • Course overview and carer's support information • Introduction to advance care planning and end of life conversations |
| Week 2 | Thursday 8th October, 1 - 3:30pm. Ripley Room, SROMC | • Estate planning • Benefits and travel • Keeping physically active • Diet and appetite • Managing fatigue |
| Week 3 | Thursday 15th October, 1:30 - 4:15pm. Ripley Room, SROMC | • Managing emotions and uncertainty (+faith/spirituality information) • Managing cancer progression in the last months and weeks of life (+ hospice information) • Relaxation and mindfulness |