OUTpatients are pleased to announce that we have secured funding to explore the important topic of sexual wellbeing for cancer patients. Building upon the success of our Sex and Cancer Info Hub, we will be exploring how patients can open the conversation of sexual wellbeing with our cancer teams, and do it with confidence.

As a charity, we have seen patients frequently report a lack of support for their psychosexual needs. Some patients have even reported that their consultants and cancer teams actively avoided the topic, leaving them feeling uninformed and unsupported.

From our resource The Human Touch, we can see that psychosexual wellbeing is an important topic for LGB+ women affected by cancer, especially when navigating the heteronormative biases that exist in cancer care. LGB+ men also report issues with this bias, especially in relation to erectile dysfunction. When support is available, it often fails to address issues related to painful anal sex, despite a high desire to discuss this issue from the patient.

Supported by Gilead’s Look and you will C us programme, we have begun working with the service users and the healthcare professionals in our network to explore people’s understanding and attitudes towards sex, intimacy, and patient needs. 

Guided by their experiences, we will be producing a booklet that talks patients through the core concepts of sexual wellbeing, gives information about how cancer can affect us, and provides advice on how we can raise our concerns and seek support.

We are so excited to be working on this project directly with our community, and can’t wait to report on its progress in the year ahead.