Maxfacts self-help videos guide cancer patients through basic physio

^{Lee Mellor: The website gives everyone the opportunity to learn about physiotherapy}

‘The idea is to give patients the ability to take ownership of their condition,’ said Lee Mellor, a physiotherapist who works with cancer patients at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust.

‘We found that there was not a lot of post-treatment information on the web, nor available from health professionals.’

The physiotherapy content was written or directed by Mr Mellor. It is layered so patients can access basic facts or more detailed information on specific topics.

Self-management

The website, launched in beta version last this month, puts a big emphasis on self-management.

It tells patients they have a responsibility to help minimise the effects of tissue damage resulting from surgery or non-surgical treatment, such as radiotherapy.

‘Physiotherapy can be amazingly effective and we urge you to help yourself by making use of it,’ the website says.

To produce the videos, film and television students at York University worked under the direction of Mr Mellor.

‘We have done these so that everyone who has access to a computer can follow them,’ he said. ‘They are all quite basic and we say that if anything more is needed, it would be for one-to-one physio.’

The website is a joint initiative from David Mitchell, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the same trust as Mr Mellor, and Angelika Sebald, a York University lecturer with personal experience of maxillofacial issues.

Mr Mellor said he was telling all his patients about the website. He added: ‘It gives everyone the opportunity to access information about physiotherapy and about the exercises they can do at home.