You're Amazing (Summer/Autumn 2018) | Page 2

Thank you! New equipment for assessing cancer patients Nutritional assessment is a crucial part of a cancer patient’s journey. Your generous donations have helped buy 10 hand grip dynamometers to measure grip strength in cancer patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’, which will help make this kind of testing more accurate. When assessing the dietary needs of cancer patients, measuring change in strength is very important. When weight and strength improve or reduce, the patient’s nutritional care plan is altered as a result. Alice Champion, Rhys White and Rebecca Bradshaw from the oncology dietetic team 2 ‘Having these hand grip dynamometers means that the dietitians are able to make a more accurate assessment of nutritional status,’ says Rhys White, principal oncology dietitian. ‘As a result, we can provide more tailored and appropriate nutritional care to our patients.’ The oncology dietetic team sees over 4000 outpatients a year, so the 10 new pieces of small, yet essential equipment will make a huge impact on the outcome of their care.