Help & Care is pleased to announce that the Whatever It Takes - Cancer Care for Everyone team were invited to speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer (APPGC) meeting on 13th November 2023: ‘Making cancer care inclusive for all.' Those attending the APPGC included parliamentarians, charity and other health stakeholders.
Is Cancer Care inclusive?
Recent studies suggest:
- Those in the LGBTIQ+ community and Disabled and Neurodivergent people report worse experiences once on the cancer pathway.
- Difficulties occur with respect to the provision of information, communication and decisions regarding care.
What did our Whatever it Takes team bring to Parliament?
- The current inequalities that exist across the cancer pathway among those with protected characteristics, specifically those in the LGBTIQ+ community and Disabled and Neurodivergent people.
- Recommendations on further action to be taken by the NHS and Governments across the UK to ensure everybody, no matter what their background, has equal access to the healthcare and support they need.
Who are the Whatever it Takes team?
At the meeting at the Houses of Parliament, the report was presented by Rosie and Katie, two Disabled and Neuro-divergent community researchers.
The Whatever it Takes Project is a collaboration between Help & Care, Macmillan Cancer Support, Bournemouth University PIER Partnership and Wessex Cancer Alliance. The APPG on Cancer is an informal group bringing together MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum to debate key issues and campaign together to improve cancer services. As well as parliamentarians, the meetings are usually attended by stakeholders working in the cancer and health space, including charities and local and national health organisations. More information about the APPGC can be found at: All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer | Macmillan Cancer Support.
Read another of our news articles here: Cancer Care for Everyone.
The Value of Patient Involvement
Outputs from the workshops took the form of artwork created by attendees with added quotes about their experiences. Photographs were taken throughout, and a video has been developed to display attendees’ creations, which is voiced over by the community researchers, to give visual and audio insight of what our attendees would like to say.
Our next steps and call to action will include sharing our final report and film, which will be followed by a published journal article. We have also set a firm foundation of the community research methodology, which will inform subsequent projects, such as an upcoming trans+ project.
Get in touch with us
Neil Bolton-Heaton
Whatever it Takes Programme Manager
Neil.bolton-heaton@helpandcare.org.uk
