Lesley Fallowfield, DBE, BSc, DPhil, FMedSci of Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, UK talks about the importance of clearly communicating information to cancer patients. Cancer patients need more information than they are usually given to make informed choice. However, studies have shown that patients often have difficulty understanding the information supplied to them by doctors and nurses. Healthcare professionals do not realise the difficulty patients face in understanding the esoteric and technical language they use. Prof. Fallowfield discusses her involvement in running communication skills programs and providing patients with user friendly content. She concludes that the triumphs of academia and development in cancers drugs have undermined elements of basic care, such as communication, that are so important to cancer patients. Recorded at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), held in Brighton, UK.
