WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2000

MS MARGARET FELTON AND MR MICHELE ANGELO PETRONE

  570. I call Ms Margaret Felton[30] from the health promotion cancer team for East Sussex. You are a nurse and the health promotion cancer team is in Brighton. You will tell us about that, I am sure.

  (Ms Felton) In 1998 we offered the people of East Sussex, Brighton and Hove the opportunity to paint their feelings about their cancer experience. The 60 people who participated did so in order to explore their feelings in relation to their cancer. However, more than that, they joined in so that they could share their experience with others in the hope that they could help each other and other people. On behalf of those people, I thank the Committee for giving us this opportunity to make their voices heard. The art and the stories which we have before us in many ways tell us nothing new. However, it does add to the body of research which is already telling us that the cancer experience cannot solely be described or understood through the language of science. We need the use of other language discourses and approaches to help in cancer in particular, to allow people to describe, address and deal with the cancer experience and take control of and improve their health. Research is already demonstrating that the arts can make a major contribution in many ways to those affected by cancer, using paint, writing, music, clay and the performance arts to give expression to the totality of the cancer experience, dispel myths, enhance the quality of life, reduce isolation, alleviate the feelings of loss and empower people to gain control over their treatment and care. The arts can be used to enable an individual to gain self-confidence, develop a sense of self, create a social environment on a cancer ward or in a community. Our personal experience locally provided in Touching the Rainbow and The Emotional Cancer Journey demonstrated that the people who participated in the art workshops benefited in many ways. They were able to share with others, exhibit their pictures, validate their feelings, create and develop a dialogue, have a distraction from their anxieties and have an opportunity to reflect. Through the exhibition and the book they were able to share with the wider population and health professionals the emotional impact of having cancer. More than anything they were given permission and a licence to express anything they felt. This was liberating and removed the need for constraint and secrets. Sixty-two per cent of people attending the exhibition felt that had increased awareness of the emotional impact of the cancer. Thirty-nine per cent felt it would have a positive influence on their work and 82 per cent said it affected their feelings and emotions. For example, the picture on page 38 is a picture of Vickie's guilt at having got cancer. Seeing her pictures displayed helped remove the guilt and gave her the feeling that it was all right to be able to express it. Tracey paints on page 32 and says that this is how they saw her; the illness with a person attached, the patient in the hospital bed and this negated the rest of her life. Piata says the word "isolation" sums it up for her. The picture of the long sweeping curve, incision on my husband's back, something so huge as having a lung taken out and all you see on the surface is this neat little pink line. This also involved cutting his vocal cords: something we never expected was that he would not have a voice. Sally was told by an expert she would not notice the difference if she had her foot amputated. She did not take the advice to have it removed and has had 12 good years with two feet. The existing gap in the research is to establish how best to implement the research findings to date in a systematic and standardised way. In order to do this the effect of the different art interventions need to be compared and contrasted and ultimately made available more widely as an integral part of care and treatment. I propose that research be carried out to investigate how to measure the effect of specific art interventions on enhancing the quality of life and the expression of those affected by cancer; how this expression can influence those administering treatment and care to improve services; how best to incorporate art projects as an integral part of cancer treatment and care. This proposal sets out how to identify successful interventions over a two-year period for the population affected by cancer in five specific pilot sites with specific focus on painting, writing, performance, music and pottery.

  Chairman: Thank you very much indeed. Since you come from Brighton and Hove I wonder whether Dr Desmond Turner has a question or comment he would like to make.

  571. I should certainly like to congratulate you on the work you have done. It is very appropriate that it should be Brighton that is doing it. Do you feel that we should devote more effort to research in terms of quality of life for cancer patients into the psychosomatic aspects of cancer care across the board, not just encouraging people to paint but any form of expression or anything that is relevant?
  (Ms Felton) Yes, I certainly do. For us in health promotion there is a huge difficulty trying to create a dialogue over any aspect of cancer. Until we address some of the beliefs and attitudes people have in this way it is going to be an uphill struggle.

  Chairman: Thank you very much for coming before us: a novel and interesting piece of evidence and thank you very much indeed for it.