Action Kidney Cancer is a member of the All.Can UK Working Group that campaigns on behalf of cancer patients for improvement in NHS services. All.Can UK is formed from multiple stakeholders, involving patient groups, healthcare charities and industry experts. It is fully funded by Bristol Myers Squibb (primary sponsor) and MSD (supporting sponsor).

All.Can UK brings together a collaborative group of healthcare charities and patient groups to identify the current inefficiencies in cancer services and develop evidence-based, best practice solutions that put the patient first. Together, the Working Group collectively advocate for the implementation of best practice services by the Government and the NHS.

During the pandemic, All.Can produced a psychological wellbeing report and are disseminating recommendations from the report through a series of articles published in the Health Service Journal (HSJ), a leading healthcare publication in the UK, and through a roundtable discussion.

The first HSJ article was published in October 2021 and was titled Why NHS staff wellbeing is key to caring for patients. This first article focused on the link between staff wellbeing and meeting patient needs, which is particularly pertinent given the current workforce pressures experienced by the NHS.

The roundtable brought together a diverse group of clinicians, NHS leaders, patient organisations, and healthcare charities to explore the value of services for cancer patients and NHS staff wellbeing, and how these services can be delivered most effectively. Two further articles will come from this roundtable discussion and will be published on HSJ’s website.

In 2022, All.Can UK plan to reach out to relevant NHS leaders and the Government with their recommendations for improving healthcare services and patient support. All.Can UK have already embarked upon a social media campaign to promote this advocacy work.

Through reaching out to Working Group members with a request for information and a virtual workshop, All.Can UK have also been compiling a list of the psychosocial support services that Working Group members provide to cancer patients. The information will be used to develop a leaflet. This leaflet will be shared with key organisations, such as the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Radiologists and NHS Clinical Commissioners, and distributed to clinicians as a resource for patients. It will also be used to engage with key NHS campaigns, such as Living With & Beyond Cancer to highlight the valuable contribution made by patient groups and healthcare charities in the provision of psychosocial support services across the UK.

All.Can UK’s plans for 2022, include:

  • A Task and Finish Group to explore the information on inefficiencies in cancer services. This will be used to create some strong, impactful recommendations to be taken to stakeholders to address health inequalities in access to patient support
  • Updates on the Health and Care Bill and Integrated Care Systems
  • Assessment of the quality of psychosocial support for cancer patients at a national level, including best practice case studies to support this work
  • The impact of COVID-19, and the impact of potential backlogs in diagnosis and treatment on cancer patients’ mental health.