2 June 2025
Today marks the launch of a new addition to cancer care in the Borders – a Cancer Prehabilitation Pathway that supports existing cancer services to help people newly diagnosed with cancer prepare physically and emotionally for treatment.
Cancer prehabilitation helps people prepare for treatment by promoting healthy lifestyle changes such as exercise, nutrition and emotional wellbeing. It is proven to boost physical and emotional strength ahead of treatment and can improve long-term outcomes, as well as supporting people to manage treatment better and recover quicker.
Prehabilitation support will be available to anyone newly diagnosed with cancer in the Borders who has planned surgery, radiotherapy or systemic anti-cancer therapies.
People who are referred to hospital with an urgent suspicion of cancer (USoC) are contacted by NHS Borders’ Single Point of Contact (SPOC) by letter or telephone call and provided with information and emotional support. A Prehabilitation Screening Assessment will now be offered at this point to determine the individual needs of each person, and referrals may then be made to appropriate services such as NHS Borders Wellbeing Service, Live Borders activity programmes, local dietitians and the Cancer Information and Support Team.
Lynda Taylor, Macmillan Nurse Consultant and Lead Clinician in Cancer at NHS Borders, said: “Introducing this new support is a positive step forward for cancer care in the Borders. Prehabilitation helps people feel stronger, more in control and better prepared for the path ahead. It also emphasises the importance of supporting a person as a whole, not just focusing on their illness - which is important if we are to influence the best possible outcome going forward.”