A new service has been launched in the city to help cancer patients facing financial difficulty during their treatment.

Macmillan Cancer Support has joined forces with Bristol Citizens Advice Bureau to provide help and advice about benefits for people with cancer.

More than 1,000 people are diagnosed with the disease in Bristol each year and taking time off work can force them into financial difficulties.

There are benefits available for people battling cancer and the five new case workers will tell them about what they can apply for and help them fill in any forms.

The service has been funded for five years, with Macmillan Cancer Support paying the full cost for three years and the Citizens Advice Bureau contributing for the last two.

The case workers will visit patients and family members who need support at hospitals and medical practices in the city.

Ellen Cronin is one of the people who will be advising patients. She said: "This can be one of the most difficult times for patients. They have just been diagnosed with something that is potentially life-threatening, which causes a major change in their life, they might be unable to work and there are all sorts of implications, and it is the time when they least want to be dealing with form-filling and sorting things out.

"There can be extra needs and extra costs, and at the same time the income goes down.

"We are making sure they get all the help available to them.

Fellow caseworker Chris Marks said: "If you are looking at average workers, taking home £300 a week, if they go on statutory sick pay they will be down to £79 a week, which is quite a drop.

"That means their lifestyle changes because their income has gone down as their outgoings may go up."

He said the service would also be helped by the fact that they have access to Citizens Advice Bureau workers who deal with employment issues.

Ken Pickering, director of Bristol Citizens Advice Bureau, said: "When people are diagnosed with cancer they might have to reduce hours or give up work, or it might be that a member of their family has to give up work to help them.

"We think this is going to be a successful programme."

Bristol Citizens Advice Bureau chairman of trustees, Phil Parry, said the organisation works with other organisations to provide support for specific groups in the same way it does with Macmillan.

Maggie Crowe, South West development manager for Macmillan Cancer Support said patients and their families may have worried about benefits in the past but not said anything about it. By setting up this service, they will have more access to the support available to them.

She said: "They would have just gone away from hospital treatment feeling very vulnerable and worried about finances but not felt they could do something about it."