AN innovative service to tackle menopausal symptoms experienced by women and men after cancer treatment has been shortlisted for a national award.

Auricular acupuncture involves inserting ten tiny needles at specific points in the ears to help with such symptoms as day and nighttime hot sweats, anxiety, stress and sleep disturbances.

Today, a team from the holistic cancer care centre at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, will travel to London to give a presentation to judges from the Prince of Wales Foundation of Integrated Medicine Award for good practice.

Practitioner Andrea Harris said: "I'm delighted with the results so far. It is wonderful to be able to offer people practical help with these distressing symptoms.

"The symptom of hot flushes may to some people seem a minor problem, but for people undergoing hormone therapy for cancer they can be a living nightmare, and that goes for men as well as women."

Centre manager Sue Stephenson, who received the treatment when she was a patient earlier this year, said: "Every night's sleep is disturbed by hot flushes on a regular basis and, for me, that was every hour.

"Not being able to get back to sleep before the next one strikes makes you so tired that you begin to think you cannot continue working, let alone have a social life. For me, auricular acupuncture has made life worth living again."

The team going to London includes Ms Harris, Ms Stephenson, aromatherapist Kathryn Almond and centre volunteer Patricia Taylor.