Shetlanders benefit from ‘Home from Home’ cancer service

Home From Home. Friends of Anchor have provided a transport service for cancer patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pictured is one of drivers Matthew Smith with one of the vehicals provided by the NHS.

A temporary initiative that has helped cancer patients from Shetland to travel and stay in Aberdeen during lockdown will come to a close next week.

The charity Friends of Anchor started the ‘Home from Home’ service in mid-May to provide accommodation and travel for patients in the Highlands and Islands, while their usual accommodation at Clan Haven was temporarily closed.

Friends of Anchor say they have covered over 1,000 miles of patient transport and arranged more than 200 nights of accommodation for patients in that time, jointly funded between themselves and the NHS.

Radiotherapy manager Nicola Redgwell said the pandemic had posed a “real problem” for patients in Orkney and Shetland, and added that the Home from Home initiative had helped alleviate a lot of those anxieties.

Clan Haven will re-open from Wednesday 8th July.