Forum Discussion
BCNA's Helpline refocus - some changes being made to the Helpline
BCNA's Helpline refocus
I received this email last night and assume that all members received it - but just in case some haven't received it, I'll put it here for everyone to read and comment on, if you like .....
I am a little perplexed that a couple of valuable assets to our members will be removed from the Helpline & Counselling Services - specifically the Cancer Nurse on the Help line & the Metastatic Breast Cancer Counselling Services. I really think the members should have been canvassed (by way of a poll) to determine their feelings on the matter - as they are the ones who will be affected by it.
I believe that both of these services are a vital part of the BCNA support for it's members - and that members would feel much more comfortable in ringing 'our' helpline than being referred to the Cancer Council or McGrath Foundation - particularly those with a recent Mets diagnosis.
What do you think?
Dear Arpie
In order to be best positioned to deliver on the vision outlined in our Strategic Plan, BCNA went through an organisational redesign in March 2021. As part of this process, we have been consulting with our BCNA Helpline team in recent months about a new team structure which repositions the Helpline at the centre of our member support services.
During the consultation period, we spoke to a small group of consumer representatives to get their insight and feedback on the proposed changes and how they impact people with breast cancer who contact us for information and support through the Helpline. We shared with them that a recent review identified an important new role for our Helpline team in delivering a broader set of information and navigational services, built on the knowledge gained from speaking to our network on the phone.
The review also identified that by having a cancer nurse on the Helpline, we were duplicating services provided by other organisations, including McGrath Foundation and Cancer Council. As a result, we will no longer have cancer nurses available on the BCNA Helpline but will instead refer and support callers in connecting to a breast care nurse or obtaining advice and information from health professionals available via Cancer Council's 13 11 20 information and support service.
Our existing Helpline team will broaden their focus by becoming Member Support Officers. They will focus on ensuring the BCNA Helpline remains the number one place to contact if you have questions and issues about breast cancer, while also individually specialising in one of our key member functions - supporting access to My Journey, My Care Kit program, health professional onboarding and BCNA Online Network.
We have worked closely with McGrath Foundation, Cancer Council, and other partners in recent weeks to ensure that we can seamlessly refer BCNA callers to a health professional when required. As you may know, working collaboratively with our partners in the sector has become an important part of how we work, with the wellbeing of people with breast cancer our number one, shared concern.
As part of these changes, BCNA will also no longer offer Metastatic Breast Cancer Counselling Services and will now refer people to the appropriate counselling service option depending on their needs and requirements. Our engagement with BCNA’s Metastatic Breast Cancer Advisory Group will provide a regular mechanism to discuss and review any impacts identified and help ensure appropriate solutions are considered.
I am sure you may have some views you would like to put forward on these changes, which will come into effect in mid-July. The consumer representatives we have spoken to so far have been open in their feedback which has been positive, agreeing that the changes are both logical and will reduce some confusing duplication for people with breast cancer.
However, we are determined to work closely with our network and members to make sure the refocus works for you, and we will continuously evaluate the impact of the new arrangements. Please contact us with any queries or suggestions on
1800 500 258 or email [email protected]
I am confident that the new arrangements will help to strengthen and expand the central role BCNA plays in providing compassionate and practical support, information, and resources for everyone affected by breast cancer.
We have always been proud of our ability to help people navigate their way to everything from peer support to advice to knowledge, and our suite of support resources is now in great shape to fulfil many of those needs. My Journey, for instance, is now well-utilised as an app, with tailored and curated information to your particular breast cancer type. The Symptom Tracker is a highly valued tool and is a new feature and an example that helps members track short and long term side effects and inform consultation with your treatment teams.
Webcasts, podcasts, and direct email to BCNA have all become popular and important channels for members to communicate with us and each other, and health professionals are also fully engaged through our health professional onboarding program.
Our Helpline team - now the Member Support team - will be fully involved in every aspect of supporting and developing these resources, to ensure they are consistently responsive to people’s needs and help people with breast cancer to explore, understand and share their journey.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me or your preferred BCNA contact to discuss the Helpline changes.
Yours sincerely,
Kirsten Pilatti
CEO
135 Replies
- Members on the BCNA website it states under advocacy
'Improved access to specialised breast cancer nurses or cancer care coordinators for people with metastatic disease
BCNA welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement in January of $27 million for the McGrath Foundation to train 41 additional breast care nurses over the next four years, including 30 nurses dedicated to supporting Australians with metastatic breast cancer. BCNA and the McGrath Foundation had been lobbying for new government funding to provide more metastatic breast care nurses across the country.
In 2019, BCNA will continue to lobby for increased access to specialised breast care nurses or cancer care coordinators.'
Seems this decision to remove the breadth care nurses goes directly against this statement. @Kirsten_BCNA can you advise how the decision to remove these nurses is in accordance with BCNA advocacy please?
Also I note in the 2019 annual report there were 13000 calls to the helpline and 1/3 of those calls were for a breast care nurse so I would like your comments on that and the recent decisions that were made. I don't understand how it can now be said that the nurses for calls are not needed if 1/3 of the calls went to the nurses.
Please don't let bnca become about jobs for those internally rather than services for members. Sometimes charities loose their way when members stop being front and centre.
- Some comments on here are they are not technology savvy hence Zoom won't cut it for all.
- We hope all these messages resonate @Kirsten_BCNA. Please we know this is not you personally but we ask you to escalate our concerns. Maybe the CEO can hold a zoom call with us all especially since we are 'the heart of BCNA'.
- I had a look at the BCNA material on the CEO and it contains this statement:
” Kirsten believes members are at the heart of BCNA”.
I find that what has occurred here does not accord with that statement.
There was no survey of members prior to making these major changes ( and as others have said, they will impact the most vulnerable members) .
Furthermore, the statement about the phone calls not needing a nurse appears to have been plucked out of the air and not in accordance with the emails on this thread.
I know my own phone call with Giovanna seeking advice about my possible double mastectomy and reconstruction was very much informed by her experience and knowledge as a breast cancer nurse and was invaluable.
I don’t think a series of one on one phone calls where the aim is to silence the members with the energy to raise this issue, I think there needs to be a proper formal consultation with the members.
Also ,the Board know about this? - @Kirsten_BCNA,
Seems to me this is not going to be resolved by private emails between you and individual members. That's just shutting us down as a collective.
I would suggest a zoom session or something similar where information is shared and questions can be asked.
We are the people supporting the organisation and we are meant to be the beneficiaries too. Why should we support bcna if we aren't getting what we need from bcna?
Open transparency is what will help and so far with all the questions in the threads above, I do not see any of them answered at all.
I would like to know information such as: what are the top 20 questions in those 9000 calls. I would also like to know what analysis was done to determine what areas if service bcna would be cut? Can the report or a executive summary of the report that killed the services and removed staff that serviced members be shared with us? If not, why not? What are the types of calls in the last month compared to call types 1 yr ago?
Hopefully some sort of session can be provided to us rather than sweeping it behind a closed door or private email. Afterall if you read the threads above this lack of transparency has lead to possible misunderstanding and anger at the decision-making. - Right, let's try again. Like a lady. Because I really like having my tone monitored.
I have been around here for a long time. Over the years I've quietly connected many members with the nurses knowing that they would receive kind and well informed advice. In many cases Rosie or Giovanna had already been keeping an eye on the person in distress. There was an existing relationship which could then develop into something long term. Ive never detected any 'confusion' about that
I'm pretty unhappy about what this organisation is choosing to spend money on. Not sure if I can say this, but I'll give it a crack. The people who bcna are supposed to be supporting do not need another marketing guru, or impenetrable communications loaded with mothering statements. They don't need an anonymous call centre that shoots them off to other organisations.
They need compassionate, expert advice. From someone they know and trust.
This member is getting pretty disillusioned with the whole organisation. This member also hopes that she is not being classified as one of the 'pink sector' mentioned in a previous post. That would be truly offensive. - Thanks @June1952. Unfortunately, what I said was so critical, hateful and obscene it needed to be removed. I'll say it again, later. Like a lady.
- Wouldn't you think a medical person would be of benefit to have amongst the fold at BCNA? Perhaps employ a nurse part-time?
- On page one of this thread, BCNA say that there will no longer be qualified nurses available on the phone as the comment above on this page says that 9,000 questions asked per annum, didn't need a nurse. However.... there will be quote" trained expert breast cancer staff". Who are they, where did they train and what were they trained in? Do they work off of flow charts where they ask a question and the reply sends them off in one stream, which then replicates down the line...follow the arrow (it's not hard)? My 'favourite', and I use that word very much with glossal organ firmly wedged in buccal pouch, that is tongue in cheek, is the word :Onboarding"...relating to medical professionals. I think it means... wait for it...passing the buck. When desperate people need a trained nurse, they need a trained nurse, not some "trained expert". As some may know, I used to be a very active skydiver, with 1, 634 jump under my belt. According to statistics, a reserve parachute is needed in about 1% of all jumps. Now these little doodads are important to have, expensive and bulky too. I only ever used mine once, not the 16 times that the statistics said I should, but f**k me George...I was glad I had one. Maybe it is only one in a hundred, or one in five hundred who need a nurse...right then... right now...not to be "onboarded" to someone completely unknown. Also, there is still all this harping on about this app, that whatsit and the next gadget. Not all members have or want these electronic nuisances impeding their peace and quiet. We all matter. Rather cut expenses on office furniture (yes I read the financial report of 2020, which was very hard to find, I might add)...or vehicles...or pot plants..or some other person, but not the persons at the pointy end, please.
- Almost 9,000 questions asked each year, could have been answered by the Helpline staff? If that is the case then they will not need to direct callers to ring Cancer Council or other organizations to speak with a nurse there. I think the transparency within which BCNA are operating is as clear as mud. Nurses are already undervalued, and this stance just makes it worse. Bring back a nurse for the members to chat with, and so be it if I ask something within the phone call that can be answered by someone else. Trained nurses are gold, even if BCNA think otherwise!
