Guest Blog | Dr Clair Le Boutillier | Holistic Needs Assessment Explained: personalised care and support planning for people diagnosed with cancer

09 December 2025 — jessica-bailey

In this blog, we’re sharing a new project developed in collaboration with clinicians and people living with cancer, which focuses on improving understanding of the Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA).

Through co-designed, accessible resources, including an infographic and animation, the project helps bridge the gap between clinical language and everyday experience, encouraging people to talk to their care teams about the HNA and request one when it could support their needs.

This piece was written by Dr Clair Le Boutillier, THIS Institute Research Fellow, who leads the ‘improving personalised care and support study.’

“Holistic assessments, such as the Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) are given after diagnosis and at key points throughout treatment to help personalise care. They offer an opportunity for patients to work in partnership with clinicians – to discuss and prioritise physical, emotional, practical, and social needs – and to create a personalised care and support plan. The challenge is that not all patients take up the offer or see the value of a HNA – it can feel like an extra thing and another piece of paper that they have to deal with.

So, what do we do?

Created as part of a research study, called the ‘improving personalised care and support study’, patients and clinicians, across three Cancer Alliances, worked together to co-design an infographic (sometimes called a visual guide) and video animation to better communicate the HNA to patients.

We listened to people’s stories and learned what was important to everyone involved in the HNA process. Patients and clinicians explained that people often feel overwhelmed, have other treatment priorities at the time of diagnosis, and would benefit from reminders about the HNA. Patients told us that they were not aware of the HNA or did not understand what it was about. We noticed a difference in the language and terminology used by the care team. For example, clinical talk (words like ‘holistic’, ‘assessment’ and ‘care plan’) and what the HNA means to patients (such as ‘it’s about my wellbeing’). Patients and clinicians described how there is a high information and paper load when diagnosed with cancer. We also discussed that we needed to be careful that the co-designed resources didn’t become ‘just more post’ and considered how it might fit with existing information from other providers.

The infographic and linked promotional animation were designed to attempt to bridge this gap, to better inform people about the benefits and process of the HNA, and to bring the HNA closer to patients.

The infographic and animation are a national resource that are hosted centrally by South East London cancer alliance. You can download the infographic here and view the animation here.

The infographic is also available as a tri-fold leaflet – designed as a way to promote the HNA to both patients and other staff in the wider multi-disciplinary team. If you are a healthcare professional, the tri-fold leaflet is available to download (to print locally or share) here.

Acknowledgements

The improving personalised care and support planning study was funded by The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute fellowship award and co-sponsored by King’s College London and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. We would like to thank patients and staff from Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support for taking part in this study. Thanks also to Nifty Fox Creative for providing the artwork and joining the co-design team. Find out more about the research here.”