One year on: Benenden Health members benefit from RedArc’s support for cancer

Over 330 (331) Benenden Health members were provided with support for cancer during the first twelve months of the mutual organisation offering support for the disease via RedArc’s experienced registered nurses.

The not-for-profit healthcare provider added RedArc to its range of partners in June 2022, recognising that when a member is diagnosed with cancer, specialist emotional and practical support is needed to help the individual and their family.

Whilst Benenden Health doesn’t try to replicate NHS services and therefore doesn’t cover cancer treatment directly, it recognises the need patients have in terms of dealing with the emotional aspect of the disease: recipients’ ability to discuss concerns with the same nurse throughout their cancer journey is one of the most highly valued aspects of RedArc support.

Support in numbers

During the past 12-month period, RedArc has supported Benenden Health members with 11 different types of cancer, the most common being breast cancer (32%), genitourinary/gynaecological (26%) thoracic/respiratory (10%), gastrointestinal (10%).

Within the first year, the average length of support provided was 136 days, with the longest being 358 days. As the support has only been in place for 12 months and with new referrals occurring throughout the period, RedArc anticipates that both of these figures will increase over time.

The same nurse provides the support to each individual, is a listening ear, and is on hand for all queries. Over the last 12 months they also provided additional support where required, including arranging acupuncture, nutritionist expertise, specialist equipment, massage, and a range of reading materials to better understand a diagnosis or treatment. When appropriate, RedArc’s nurses also referred on to Benenden Health’s other services including physiotherapy, counselling and a 24/7 GP service.

Christine Husbands, commercial director, RedArc said: “The direction of travel for providers is to use companies such as ours to enrich the services and support they offer to their members and customers. The emphasis is now on specialist support that is proven to make a real difference, over lighter touch solutions that do not offer a sufficient depth of support or expertise.

“By offering our services, Benenden Health is very clearly demonstrating to its members that if they receive a cancer diagnosis, the Society is both on and by their side. Our experience is that this is often repaid with member engagement which drives member loyalty in the long term.”

Benenden Health members surveyed scored the service 8.1 when asked how satisfied they were with the support they received from RedArc. Feedback collected by RedArc showed that members felt listened to, considered their nurse to be empathetic and respectful, were able to express and discuss the problems that were most important to them, and were given useful information and/or guidance relevant to their health condition.

Andy Wiggans, chief commercial officer, Benenden Health said: “While we offer a very broad range of support for many health conditions, we felt that the emotional and practical type of support specifically required during and after a cancer diagnosis needed to be more extensive. The breadth of support provided to our members by RedArc has been considerable and we’re receiving really positive feedback from those who have benefitted over the past year.

“When selecting new services, we are careful to choose companies who have the ability to dovetail with our existing provision as this is key in ensuring all services are widely utilised for the best possible outcomes for our members.”