NATIONAL SKIN CANCER AWARENESS CHARITY, SKCIN LAUNCH ‘MASCED PRO’ - A national Melanoma and Skin Cancer Early Detection training programme for Medical and Healthcare Practitioners.

The MASCED PRO on-line training programme has been developed by national melanoma and skin cancer awareness charity, Skcin, to provide medical and healthcare practitioners with an accessible, cost effective tool with which to develop their knowledge of the early signs and symptoms of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers - giving them the confidence to refer or signpost patients to appropriate colleagues and/or services following the identification of suspicious lesions.

Despite the vast majority of all skin cancers being preventable, statistics continue to soar and ignorance regarding how to spot the early signs and symptoms on a personal level, or within professional capacities remains widespread. The objective of the MASCED PRO programme is to fill the mammoth void that exists in this arena by facilitating the provision of effective training tools with quality printed and on-line resources, enabling practitioners to integrate this knowledge into their everyday practice and extend vital information on prevention and early detection across their patient communities.

The MASCED PRO training programme has been reviewed and is supported by the British Association of Dermatologists, the British Association Skin Cancer Specialist Nurses and the British Dermatological Nursing Group.

“The British Association of Dermatologists supports this valuable programme. Many professionals who come into contact with skin through the course of their work will have received little or no training in how to spot signs of the UK’s most common cancer. Given that the vast majority of deaths from skin cancer could be avoided if the cancer was detected earlier, work such as this by Skcin, to help drive earlier referrals of potential cancers to specialists, can only be seen as a hugely positive step”.

The training programme has been developed by the charity following the success of it’s sister scheme that launched in January 2018 training hair, health and beauty industry professionals. With over 10,000 professionals registered across the UK and over 1,000 from over 30 different countries globally, the MASCED programme has seen huge success. The significant interest from medical & healthcare practitioners and associated organisations highlighted the evident need for such a programme to develop into an arena that is void of practical, accessible and measurable solutions.

“Allied Health professionals have a major role to play in prevention” - a statement issued by Public Health England who have recently published the first ever UK-wide public health strategy that sets out their plans to maximise the contribution that Allied Health Professionals make to prevention and how they can deliver public health benefits.

Marie Tudor CEO of charity, Skcin adds: “ By supporting all healthcare professionals to embed prevention and early detection within their practice is critical to reducing the soaring rates of skin cancer in the UK. The MASCED PRO training programme strongly supports the call by Public Health England to look beyond the obvious NHS workforce to see how other professionals can help prevent illness and promote wellbeing”.

Allied Health Professionals make an enormous contribution to tackling public health challenges. Made up of 14 professions, including occupational therapists, paramedics, podiatrists and physiotherapists, AHPs are the third largest workforce in the NHS. Spending time with millions of people across the country every day, these professionals are well placed to offer skin health advice and support to a wide range of different communities.

The MASCED PRO training programme however, extends further than the 14 professions defined as AHP’s and is open to all medical and healthcare practitioners. The training also fills a huge void that exists in the education of General Practitioners who are surprisingly afforded little to no training on the subject.

The training programme piloted throughout March and April earlier this year in the Midlands, where 45 of the 100 healthcare practitioners who took part were GPs who provided some hugely positive, 5 star feedback:

“The course refreshed and consolidated my knowledge and helped me to identify where further training is needed. Where any doubt existed I now have all the tools needed to be confident in justifying any requests for referral. Thank you!”

“Really useful learning package. good variety pictures and tests knowledge adequately. I feel a lot more confident looking at skin lesions and when to refer”.

“Useful course. It has definitely increased my confidence in identifying suspicious lesions”.

The training programme is officially launching today,  Wednesday 15th May at the Primary Care and Public Health Exhibition at NEC Birmingham -  the UK’s leading event for GPs, federations, CCGs, primary care and community pharmacists, nurses, midwives, AHPs and healthcare managers working in primary care, community care, public and prison health.

Marie Tudor said: “This is the perfect platform to us to officially launch the programme and with a speakers slot lined up we anticipate great interest. We have worked hard over the last year to develop this training that has been reviewed and supported by many professionals in dermatology, giving us the confidence to forge forward and launch the training programme nationally”.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

With the provision of the training and tools provided by the MASCED PRO Training Programme, on completion learners will be able to:
•  Identify and interpret common signs and symptoms in the assessment of the most common forms of potential non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers.
• Demonstrate appropriate clinical decision-making in taking action to refer or sign-post patients to appropriate colleagues and / or services.
• Utilise effective communication techniques in the education of their patients in relation to the identification, management and prevention of sun damage and skin cancer.
• Critically reflect on their own clinical practice to identify and develop their understanding of sun damage and skin cancers.
Gain access to the tools and resources with which to extend the provision of vital information on the prevention and early detection of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer into and across their patient community.

IMPACT ON CURRENT PRACTICE

Lack of knowledge and awareness on a national scale means that cancerous lesions are not detected by patients or healthcare practitioners, delaying treatment which can result in poor prognosis. There are Potential impacts of the MASCED PRO training on current healthcare practice in the UK these are:

• Increased confidence, enhanced practical skills and Improved knowledge of skin lesions across medical & healthcare industries.
• Early identification and treatment of malignant lesions- increasing long term survival rates.
• Increased awareness - that not all lesions follow the ABCDE rule and that the ABCDEF (subungual) and CUBED rules are good additional diagnostic tools.
• Increased knowledge of the warning signs of amelanotic lesions which lack pigmentation.
• Increased awareness and education across patient communities in relation to the identification, management and prevention of sun damage and skin cancer.
• Reduced treatment costs for the National Health Service.

WHAT’S INVOLVED?

Every professional who registers with the programme will receive a welcome pack which includes their MASCED PRO Guide - a 40 page essential learning tool that provides key information about the risks associated with UV, how to prevent skin cancer, how to identify the most common types of melanoma & non-melanoma skin cancers, how and when to refer/signpost patients, and how to extend vital information into and across their patient community. The MASCED PRO guide and mole ruler are designed to be kept in clinic as easy reference tools to aid practitioners in their everyday practice.

Once professionals have studied their guide they can then gain certification by completing the on-line e-course which has been developed to reinforce key messaging throughout the guide whilst providing a virtual experience in the identification of suspicious lesions and the subsequent referral/signposting process.

Medical and healthcare practitioners and AHP’s can get on board with the programme, by registering at: pro.masced.uk

All funds received from the MASCED PRO Training Programme are ploughed straight back into the charity, enabling them enhance and develop their comprehensive range of educational intervention programmes and resources, to aid the prevention and early detection of melanoma and skin cancer on a national scale.

For further information please contact: Marie Tudor:
marie.tudor@skcin.org | 0777 5771986
www.skcin.org

Titanic Spa trains staff to spot melanoma by partnering with skin cancer charity Skcin

Titanic Spa, the UK’s first eco-spa, located in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, announces a new partnership with skin cancer charity, Skcin.  Skcin will become the spa’s exclusive charity partner for 2019.  Titanic Spa will be supporting Skcin’s mission to raise awareness of skin cancer by promoting the importance of prevention and early detection.

According to Cancer Research UK, 1 in 36 UK males and 1 in 47 UK females will be diagnosed with melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer) during their lifetime.  In addition, over 210,000 cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed annually in the UK making it the most common cancer by far. 

As part of its support, Titanic Spa has enrolled its therapist team in MASCED (Melanoma and Skin Cancer Early Detection), Skcin’s National Accreditation programme for hair, health and beauty industry professionals. This will enable Titanic Spa’s staff to spot the early signs and symptoms of skin cancer on its spa guests as well as on its own staff and family members, giving them the confidence to communicate concerns and advise clients to take appropriate action.

The MASCED Accreditation Programme has also been developed to raise awareness of the importance of Sun Safety to aid the prevention of around 86% of melanoma and the majority of all skin cancer cases.  Titanic Spa will be utilising Skcin’s supportive awareness resources to extend vital information on the prevention and early detection of skin cancer across their client community, helping them to take charge of their own skin health and surveillance incorporating key ‘sun safe’ recommendations to its guests during the summer months promoting Skcin’s ‘Five S’s of Sun Safety’:

1.      SLIP on a t-shirt

2.      SLOP on SPF 30+ broad spectrum UVA sunscreen

3.      SLAP on a broad brimmed hat

4.      SLIDE on quality sunglasses

5.      SHADE from the sun whenever possible

Announcing the charity partnership, Titanic Spa’s Director, Amy Burton says “Our therapist team are skincare professionals so extending their training to skin surveillance and how to identify suspicious lesions seemed like a logical next step. They are perfectly placed to detect the early signs of skin cancer and in a unique position to become powerful advocates in the fight against cancer.  If this means they can potentially save client, staff or family lives, then that would be an incredible achievement and reward for us all.”

Campaign manager for MASCED Claire Dale says “We are delighted to be working with Titanic Spa and are hugely grateful of the support, energy and enthusiasm of the entire team. Their dedication to this initiative clearly demonstrates their commitment to providing an unrivalled service to their guests”.

www.titanicspa.co.uk       www.skcin.org

Titanic Spa

Low Westwood Lane, Linthwaite, Huddersfield HD7 5UN

01484 843 544 | www.titanicspa.com

Twitter: @TitanicSpa | Facebook: titanicspauk |Instagram: titanic_spa

Ends

For further press details or images please contact

Supirya Chanrai or Sophie Lowe at The Spa PR Company

E. Supriya@thespaprcompany.com | Sophie@thespaprcompany.com

 T. 0207 100 7018 

@spaprcompany

Hannah Farman Completes Step 3 towards becoming a Sun Safe Nursery - Teaching Resources & Activities

Congratulations to Hannah Farman for reading George the Sun Safe Superstar to all their children and introducing everyone to the ‘Slip, Slap, Slop song’.Hannah Farman have also pledged to continue to regularly use the resources provided to reinforce the sun safe message to their children.

“This resource is something the children love and when putting on suncream we discuss all about the safety and why its so important.”

(Hannah Farman - Hannah Farman)

“We pledge to ensure our children are kept sunsafe. We will ensure all out children are kept sunsafe and provided with the right tools and knowledge to be safe from the sun furthermore we will ensure we continue to spread the message to parents. ”

(Hannah Farman - Hannah Farman)

SKCIN AND TENOVUS CANCER CARE LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT SKIN CANCER THROUGH EDUCATION.

SKCIN AND TENOVUS CANCER CARE LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT SKIN CANCER THROUGH EDUCATION

Skcin are proud to announce a partnership with Tenovus Cancer Care, working with primary schools across Wales, to assist them in their duty of care to provide a sun safe environment and educate children on the importance of sun safety to prevent skin cancer.

The partnership launched yesterday at Penyrenglyn Primary School where Skcin and Tenovus Cancer Care joined forces to deliver a whole school assembly which was attended by Chris Bryant MP for the Rhondda who had surgery to remove a stage three melanoma earlier this year. Chris had all the children thoroughly engaged - standing in front of the whole school, he talked about his scar, how he’d often burnt as a child and therefore how important it is to protect our skin, the children LOVED him!

Chris said: “It was great to meet with the wonderful Marie of SKCIN to discuss the hard work carried out by the charity to raise awareness of skin Cancer in the UK, specifically in UK Primary Schools. I was over the moon to present Penyrenglyn Primary School with their Sun Safe School Certificate alongside Tenovus Cancer Care highlighting the importance of protecting pupils from the sun. Thank you for all your hard work! I will be writing to all Primary schools in the Rhondda regarding this extremely important campaign”.

Continuing their commitment to deliver assemblies and educational sessions to primary school children in Wales, Tenovus Cancer Care are now working in partnership with Skcin to promote our national Sun Safe Schools accreditation programme which provides all UK primary schools with comprehensive free resources with step-by step guidance and support to ensure they fulfil their duty of care by:

Implementing a suitable sun safety policy that covers all government guidelines.
Communicating with parents to gain support and raise awareness within the wider school community.
Educating children on the importance of sun safety to influence behaviour for a ‘sun safe’ skin cancer free future.

Maura Matthews, Tenovus Cancer Care’s Prevention Lead, commented: “This is an excellent opportunity for us to build on the work we have been doing with schools by partnering with Skcin to deliver their Sun Safe Schools programme.

“We both have the same aims, to educate as many children as possible on the importance of sun safety, and this will allow us to reach more children than ever before.

“The accreditation scheme gives each school a realistic target to achieve and then recognition for the work they are doing, and we are looking forward to working with schools right across Wales.”

Marie Tudor, CEO of Skcin added: “The launch event was a huge success and I like to extend special thanks to all the staff and pupils at Penyrenglyn Primary School, to Tenovus Cancer Care and their amazing choir and to Chris Bryant, all of whom played vital roles in making the event a huge success”.

“Our partnership with Tenovus Cancer Care makes complete sense, why re-invent the wheel or spend hard earned fundraisers money on duplicating efforts when they can simply be combined so effectively! This relationship highlights how charities should be working together - something Skcin have always felt very strongly about”.

“With our back office management and reporting capabilities, we are able to report on all aspects of this unique initiative and use this information to measure success which is absolutely crucial”.

“Overall it was very emotional day for Skcin, who have dedicated so much hard work, over so many years and feel so passionately about the education of our future generations to prevent skin cancer. Maybe this is finally our chance to make our voice heard”.

Why all UK primary schools should get on-board with the Sun Safe Schools programme

Whilst some sun is good for us, over-exposure to UV is a serious health risk and the primary cause of the UK’s most common and fastest rising cancer. UV is a known carcinogen, damage is cumulative, irreparable and burning as a child can dramatically increase a persons risk of developing the disease in later life. With children spending almost half their childhood at school, where they are outdoors every day, during peak UV hours (11am - 3pm), it’s imperative that schools ensure children are protected from UV damage and are educated on the importance of enjoying the sun safely.

UV exposure without doubt has to be regarded as a serious health and safety issue for schools. The NICE guidelines for skin cancer prevention make it clear that children should never be allowed to burn and should be made aware of how important it is to protect their skin. In addition government guidelines recommend schools develop a policy on how to protect children when they are outside for more than a brief period in strong sunlight.

Whilst it’s clear that schools have a duty of care, for many primary schools across the UK, this can pose a daunting prospect; What does the policy look like, what should it contain, how do I educate my pupils, where do I get the materials I need and how do I find the time to source and implement it all?

Skcin recognise not only the importance of Sun Safety education in schools, but the pressures faced by those tasked to implement an effective policy and teachings. To help solve this issue and fill the mammoth void that exists in this arena, Skcin designed and developed the Sun Safe Schools accreditation programme to provide a single reference point and comprehensive FREE resource that can be accessed by any primary school nationally.

To gain their Sun Safe Accreditation, schools must complete a 4 step process, providing feedback on-line following completion of each step. All the resources a school needs have been provided to help them achieve each step effectively and efficiently, with maximum impact and confidence and with minimum strain on valuable time and resources.

STEP ONE: CREATE YOUR SUN SAFETY POLICY
Our on-line policy maker makes it easy for schools to tailor and download their own Sun Safety policy. This process ensures schools have considered and covered all essential guidelines and recommendations and can be confident that they are implementing a suitable policy to protect their pupils and present to parents.

STEP TWO: COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS
In accordance with a school’s tailored policy, a personalised letter is automatically generated to download and send home to parents along with their policy and Sun Safety information booklets provided free upon registration. This ensures schools are requesting the required level of support from parents, advising them correctly about Sun Safety and doing great work to increase vital knowledge about prevention and early detection within the wider school community.

STEP THREE: CONDUCT A WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
In addition the the range of resources including assembly plan, presentation slides, music and song - all available to schools via the programme, Tenovus will be continuing their support to primary schools across Wales by helping schools deliver their assembly, engage children and reinforce the importance of Sun Safety.

STEP FOUR: CONDUCT INDIVIDUAL CLASS LESSONS
Extensive curriculum linked educational resources for key stage one and two pupils have been provided and (and are to be delivered by Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales) to help schools engage children, increase knowledge and influence behaviour.

Upon completion, schools are awarded their Sun Safe Schools Certificate of Accreditation
The Accreditation is valid for one year, with a renewal process in place for schools to review their policy, reinforce support with the existing school community, advise newcomers and increase knowledge of sun safety through education.

ALL SCHOOLS THAT REGISTER TO TAKE PART RECEIVE:

• A comprehensive welcome pack and accreditation guide designed as a back-up resource to our on-line facility, including hard copies of all printable resources.
• School assembly and lesson plan support (provided by Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales).
• A hard copy of the book ‘George the Sun Safe Superstar’ for the school library
• Sun Safe Superstar stickers for all children
• Sun Safety information booklets for all parents and to raise awareness across the school community
• Unlimited access to all on-line resources


Marie Tudor, CEO of national skin cancer charity Skcin said, “ UV awareness and skin cancer have always been regarded as a public health issue and not an educational one. The fact is that they are inextricably linked. Skcin believe the only way to combat soaring statistics is for the two departments to work together in order to create the impact required and this is why schools are uniquely placed to provide a solution.

“Skcin also believe it is the combined duty of both schools and parents to ensure children are protected from over-exposure to UV during school hours and that educational messaging is best delivered at a young age in order create the necessary behavioural change. Therefore schools not only have a duty of care to implement policy, but are uniquely placed to educate children and communicate with parents to reinforce key messaging that will positively impact the lives of our future generation and those to come”.

“Skcin launched the Sun Safe Schools Accreditation over 5 years ago now and we are reaching thousands of primary schools across the UK, teaching over half a million children and raising awareness amongst their families via the scheme. We help schools by providing a single point of trusted information and associated resources that will help them, with their limited time, budgets and high works loads, to deliver the right policy, the right advice and the right resources to engage children with this vital messaging”.

“Whilst we can offer all of the above, what we struggle to provide on a national scale, is face-to-face support in delivering assemblies and lesson plans. We know teachers love nothing more than a booked-in, ‘all sorted’ massive ‘tick in the box’ assembly and that’s why we are really excited to be working with Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales who are already doing great work in this arena. By combining our efforts we can offer primary schools across Wales the very best service, with the greatest impact”.


Primary schools should register to take part at: www.sunsafeschools.co.uk

Together we can make a difference and save lives.

IT’S TIME TO TAKE SKIN CANCER SERIOUSLY

Skcin launch hard-hitting campaign for Skin Cancer Awareness Month

Throughout Skin Cancer Awareness Month (May) national skin cancer awareness charity, Skcin will be sharing daily facts, advice and the battle scars of brave melanoma and skin cancer patients in a bid to get the ‘skinderella’ of all cancers taken more seriously by the public, by schools, by employers, by industry and by government - by highlighting the importance of prevention and early detection to save lives.

According to Cancer Research UK, 1 in 36 UK males and 1 in 47 UK females will be diagnosed with melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer) during their lifetime. In addition over 210,000 cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed annually in the UK making it the most common cancer by far. As rates of the disease continue to soar, Skcin are urging pre-schools, primary schools, employers, the beauty industry, healthcare practitioners and government to ‘GET WITH THE PROGRAMME’ as they can all play vital roles in combating the disease.

Creative Director of Skcin, Kathryn Clifford says “After losing my mum to this devastating disease in 2005, I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to prevention and early detection. Why? With 86% of skin cancers preventable and it being the only cancer we can physically see developing, shouldn’t we all know how to protect ourselves and how to spot the early signs and symptoms? It’s not rocket science, it’s common sense and not enough is being done by government to invest in the future of our nations health.

The brave patients who know all too well the devastation this disease can cause, have shared their images and stories with us to support us in our vital messaging and we couldn’t be more grateful. People tend to think that skin cancer is ‘only skin cancer’ surely it can be cut-out and that’s that. But the reality of living with melanoma is hell.

Like smoking, skin cancer is a lifestyle cancer and we are in charge of not just our own destiny, but more importantly the destiny of our future generations. That’s why we wanted to create a hard-hitting campaign that visually mimics the governments intervention regarding the dangers of smoking in the hope that we can create the required impact to influence behaviours and encourage action”.

The campaign is backed up by a comprehensive range of resources that Skcin have developed over their 13 years of dedicated work on the prevention and early detection of this dreaded disease. Pioneers of educational intervention in this field, Skcin have designed and operate a wide range of nationally accessible and measurable educational programmes that target key ‘at risk’ and ‘influential’ sectors. Working with pre-schools, primary schools, employers of outdoor workers, the hair, health and beauty industry as well as medical and healthcare practitioners, Skcin provide ‘the blue sky thinking’ recently called for in parliament when it comes to prevention and are doing vital work on a national scale to combat the soaring rates of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer in the UK.

The campaign is supported by Chris Bryant Member of Parliament for the Rhondda who had surgery to remove a stage three melanoma earlier this year, he said: “Skin cancer is on the rise and it can kill. The good news is that in most cases if it is caught early it can be treated very successfully. But prevention is even better than treatment, so the government should start a major national campaign to get people to cover up in the sun and use factor 50 sun cream. And as for any strange looking skin growths, if in doubt, check it out.”

The hard-hitting campaign messaging will also be used in various settings to generate impact and influence behaviours within notoriously hard-to-engage categories. Outdoor workers are one such category and having worked in this arena for the last 6 years with a dedicated programme for employers, Skcin know all too well that the likes of builders and construction workers or employees within any predominantly male environment are less likely to take the dangers of UV exposure seriously and take the necessary steps to protect their skin, let alone check their skin for change and visit their GP if they spot something suspicious.

As such Skcin have partnered engineering enterprise Laing O’Rourke this May to promote this hard-hitting messaging in a bid to influence their outdoor workers into taking action. “At Laing O’Rourke, we take health and wellbeing seriously. We are always looking for ways to raise awareness and educate our people against key health risks to ensure the wellbeing of our workers,” said Silvana Martin, Health and Wellbeing Leader at Laing O’Rourke. “Communicating the importance of sun protection is key strategy that we are paying particular close attention, to help tackle the rising incidences of occupational skin cancer. Skcin’s campaign is hard hitting to engage people to think again while outdoor during the Summer. The key messages we want to get across are; apply sun cream and cover up. We also want to promote the universal five S’s of sun safety advice which is covered comprehensively in all Skcin’s educational resources and material on their website.’’

Skcin are also working with Homewood School and Sixth form Centre, Tenterden and Liverpool John Moores University to deliver educational intervention and behavioural research in which the campaign messaging will be used to engage teenagers in a bid to create impact and evoke cultural shift in attitudes towards the importance of sun safety.

Marie Tudor, CEO of Skcin added “We pride ourselves on our creative abilities to generate engagement, but it’s not always easy! The problem is, we are trying to tell people that the one thing we all love, enjoy, can’t avoid and to some degree is actually good for us, can kill us!

It’s no simple task - different people of different ages, working within different professions require very different approaches, so there’s ‘no one-size-fits-all’ campaign, programme or supportive resource - that’s why we operate a suite of bespoke accreditation programmes and the reason why we have developed such a comprehensive bank of supportive resources.

This campaign is very much about generating an impact that will hopefully make people think twice about the severity of skin cancer and the consequences our decisions regarding sun safety can have. It’s also a nod to government with whom are equally difficult to engage with on the matter, despite our best efforts and the offer of robust, quality and measurable solutions to help them improve the nations health and mitigate future costs for the NHS”.

Now is the time to take action - pre-schools, primary schools and employers of outdoor workers all have a duty of care to ensure they implement a robust sun safety policy and educate their employees and our future generations on the prevention and early detection of skin cancer. Schools and workplaces can ‘get with the programme’ by accessing the comprehensive free accreditation programmes and resources available at:

sunsafenurseries.co.uk
sunsafeschools.co.uk
sunsafeworkplaces.co.uk

Hair, Health and Beauty Industry professionals as well as medical and healthcare practitioners can get trained to spot the early signs of skin cancer and advise their clients / patients to take appropriate action by taking part in the MASCED (Melanoma and Skin Cancer Early Detection) training programmes available at: masced.uk

Together, we can make a difference and save lives.

For further information contact Marie Tudor on: 07775 771986 | marie.tudor@skcin.org