1. Do you have questions about cancer types, treatments or what to expect?
Call our cancer information nurse specialists on freephone 0808 800 1234 (Monday to Friday 9am – 8pm). They can help you with up-to-date information on diagnosis, symptoms, treatments, clinical trials and more.
Interpreters are available in over 200 languages. You can also use RNID typetalk on text-phone 18001 0808 800 1234.
You can also email your questions using the 'Email a Nurse' form on our Cancerbackup website.
2. Do you have concerns or questions about living with cancer?
We can provide you with emotional and practical help, and put you in touch with other sources of support. Call our freephone on 0808 808 2020 (Monday to Friday 9am – 9pm).
We have dedicated phonelines for Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi speakers, and interpreting services are available for other languages.
You can also email us for emotional and practical support at cancerline@macmillan.org.uk
3. Do you want to talk to others in a similar situation?
You can:
4. Do you have money worries?
Cancer can affect your finances. For information and guidance on where to seek help about your finances or to find out how to speak to a trained Benefits Advisor, call our freephone 0800 500 800 (Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm).
You can also:
5. Do you need out-of-hours support?
All our phone lines are open Monday to Friday, but hours vary.
For medical attention out of hours, please contact your GP for their 'out-of-hours' service.
The following organisations can offer immediate information and support:
6. Do you want information and support in a different language?
We have dedicated Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi speakers who can offer emotional and practical support for people living with cancer. Please call:
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Hindi - 0808 808 0100
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Punjabi - 0808 808 0101
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Urdu - 0808 808 0102
For cancer information in other languages you can also call our team of specialist nurses using a dedicated freephone number listed below.
For information and support in languages not listed here, please call 0808 800 1234 and ask for an interpreter.
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French - 0808 800 0133
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Polish - 0808 800 0137
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Urdu - 0808 800 0140
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Turkish - 0808 800 0139
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Gujarati - 0808 800 0135
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Vietnamese - 0808 800 0141
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Punjabi - 0808 800 0138
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Hindi - 0808 800 0136
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Greek - 0808 800 0134
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Bengali - 0808 800 0131
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Arabic - 0808 800 0130
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Chinese - 0808 800 0132
Please note we can only give information about health care and support services available in the UK.
7. Are you a young person affected by cancer?
If you are between 12 and 21 years old and have any questions or concerns about cancer then call the free Macmillan YouthLine, on 0808 808 0800 (Monday - Friday 9am - 9pm). Find out more about Youthline.
You can also:
If you are a teacher please see our CancerTalk website.
Will my call be confidential?
All calls are treated in absolute confidence within the organisation and your details will not be shared – in fact, you don't have to tell us your name if you wish to remain anonymous.
However, in very rare cases we may need to break confidentiality. Macmillan is not able to provide a confidential service under circumstances where Macmillan policy or the law dictates a breach of confidentiality. This is largely dependent on the personal information you give us. We do not use technology to trace calls. If you are worried about remaining anonymous, you may not want to give us identifying information such as your surname, home address and phone number.
Occasionally some calls may be listened into or recorded for training or monitoring purposes. A staff member may listen in to a call if it will help us to provide a better service. New staff, as part of their training, listen in to calls being taken by experienced helpline workers. This enables them to learn from the expertise and experience of their colleagues.