A BOUTIQUE fitting room is to be created in the new breast care unit at Burnley General Hospital so that women undergoing breast cancer treatment can leave with ‘their heads held high’.

The area will be used for women who have had mastectomies or who have been fitted with prosthetics to view and try on the latest in specialist lingerie, swimwear, wigs and bandanas.

Rosemere Cancer Foundation is funding what will be a relaxing environment, designed to help women better cope mentally and emotionally with any physical changes that their breast cancer and its treatment may have brought.

The boutique-style fitting room will have floor to ceiling cupboards, glass shelving with spotlights and relaxing tub chairs, set around a coffee table, so as to give it an upmarket feel rather than that of a hospital treatment room. Through its grant of £5,006, Rosemere is also refurbishing a counselling room within the unit.

It too is being re-designed to be less clinical in the hope that its new comfortable and calming environment will help alleviate some of the stress associated with a cancer diagnosis.

Both rooms are set for daily use when they open next spring.

Helen Lawrence, lead breast care nurse at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Environment is now a key factor in the provision of care for cancer patients and creating ‘healing environments’ has been shown to improve treatment outcomes.

“By making our counselling room less clinical and creating a boutique so women can see, touch and try products that may help them feel better about themselves and give them back confidence, our aim is for our ladies to walk out with their heads held high.”

“We want to help banish negative body image, which many women experience as a result of breast cancer and its treatment by showing patients swimming costumes and bras that are just as stylish as anything they may have bought in the past.”