A pioneering post launched in Bradford to help cancer patients from the Asian population has been so successful it is attracting interest nationwide.

The ethnic minorities liaison officer role, funded by Macmillan Cancer Relief, could be implemented in other hospitals.

Wali Nazir, known as Naz, took up the post with Bradford Community Palliative Care team 15 months ago after research showed communication problems and a lack of ethnic minorities taking up services.

The 28-year-old, of Heaton, who speaks Urdu and Punjabi, made a switch from the catering trade to take up the job.

"My job is going with the patient along the cancer journey from diagnosis to discharge or working to help the terminally ill and their families.

"It is a massive change and a lot of people have asked me why I wanted to work in a field where people are ill and dying but I wanted to change from working for myself to working for other people.

"There is the job satisfaction of knowing you are able to do something which can improve someone's life."

Mr Nazir's role is split between working in the hospital alongside health professionals, visiting cancer patients in the community and working at the hospice.

He undertakes many tasks from translating a diagnosis to a non-English speaker to organising a care package for a poorly person, including finding equipment and supporting clinical staff who might face sensitive cultural barriers.

And the role has proved so important he should soon be joined by another liaison officer as there are plans to create another post funded by the Bradford Macmillan Appeal.

Mr Nazir, whose post received a commendation from the Government in the Health and Social Awards, said one of the main roles was to help the passage of information from doctors to a patient who does not understand English without the main interpreter being a family member.

"There is a lot of modesty among South Asian women and we do not want to have a situation where a family member or even one of the patients' children is being used as an interpreter.

"It can be distressing, and if the person is in shock the right information might not always be given."

The post is funded for three years by Macmillan Cancer Relief and then taken on by the hospital, PCT and Marie Curie.