168: The Relaxback UK Show with Mike Dilke with guests Sir Jonathan Ashbridge and Dr Sherif Raouf

168: The Relaxback UK Show with Mike Dilke with guests Sir Jonathan Ashbridge and Dr Sherif Raouf

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? Here, the focus shifts slightly, looking at how long-term health conditions, cancer care and home treatment can free people from constant trips to hospital and help them hang on to normal life. Host Mike Dilk chats with Sir Jonathan Ashbridge, inaugural president of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and consultant clinical oncologist Dr Sherif Raouf about moving serious treatments out of hospital and into people’s homes.

Their message is simple and surprisingly practical: staying well often means staying at home. Sir Jonathan explains how delivering medicines and training patients to use them properly boosts adherence and cuts hospital visits. He points out that many people simply can’t manage repeated journeys for prescriptions and appointments, which means they miss medication, become ill and then end up back on a ward. As he puts it, getting care closer to home lets people "live their lives properly".

Dr Raouf brings the cancer angle, describing chemotherapy units that are bursting at the seams while patient numbers climb by 10–13% a year. Home-based chemotherapy, he says, gives patients one-to-one nursing, flexible timing, and vital emotional support for families – even if it looks less efficient on paper. He highlights the brutal reality of delays for people with limited life expectancy and stresses that capacity, not clinical skill, is often the bottleneck.

The conversation also touches on digital tools, wearables, and round-the-clock nurse advice lines. Both guests stress that tech is there to support humans, not replace them: "We look after people. We don't just deliver medicine." Safeguarding, spotting social problems at home, and working alongside the NHS all sit at the heart of their approach.

If you’re juggling illness, work, family or caring responsibilities, this episode asks a simple question: could more care at home make staying healthy just that bit easier?