Focussing on the primary care aspects of the Kenilworth model, the Poole Primary Care Trust (PCT) cancer genetics service has aimed to develop a high quality primary care-led service for the assessment and counselling of people concerned about their genetic risk of cancer. The service has been available through General Practitioner (GP) surgeries within the PCT since early 2006, and is delivered by Community Cancer Nurses as part of their role to provide proactive care and support to cancer patients, their families and the local population. Acting as a point of reference for cancer genetics at each practice, the nurses have supplied basic education to both health professionals and lay staff about the aims of the service and the genetic risk of cancer. Feedback from service users is one of the key elements of the Poole evaluation. This article is based on the views of some of the first patients referred. The patients consulted one of the cancer nurses between June and December 2006, and were interviewed by a researcher about their experience. The interviews focussed on the psychosocial aspects of the patients' experiences, which are less accessible through quantitative methods. The patients were encouraged to talk specifically and generally about their experiences, and described some of the feelings and emotions from the time of their referral onwards.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.