Cancer52 is an alliance of over 100 organisations, united in improving the future for everyone affected by rare and less common cancers. Recently, Cancer52 has held two All Member Meetings to update members on their advocacy work to date.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) call for evidence to inform the new ten-year cancer plan

Cancer52 are preparing a response to this consultation and we need to get the patient voice heard in this call for evidence. It is not too late to have your voice heard. Attached here is the Word version of the call for evidence that can be printed off and sent to the following address by 1st April: Cancer Call for Evidence, Department of Health and Social Care, 39 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EU.

Cancer awareness campaign materials

The NHS has launched the next Help Us Help You cancer campaign focusing on trying to get people to come forward if they are worried about something. Keep a look out for social media and TV advertisements regarding urological symptoms.

To support the Help Us Help You cancer campaign Cancer52 are looking for real life case study stories. Ideally, this would be people who had been to their GP with cancer symptoms and had a cancer diagnosis, or can also be stories of people who were told they did not have cancer. The aim of the campaign is to tackle the fear barrier about presenting to your GP with suspected cancer symptoms and encourage more people to come forward for checks.

People should ideally be aged 45+ to align to our target audience, as well as people who can emphasise the benefits of going to see their GP earlier. Cancer52 are looking for case studies to take part in a range of opportunities including:
  • Appearing in film alongside selected talent to speak about their experience (can be filmed at home)
  • Media interviews around the release of the film w/c 14th March

All case studies will be accompanied and briefed by the NHS England team. Any queries or for more information, please email us.

NHS Cancer Programme – innovation in cancer diagnosis

The NHS Cancer Programme is calling for improvements in cancer diagnosis and has announced a four-week consultation on the NHS Clinical Review of Standards. Action Kidney Cancer will be involved with this consultation along with other members of Cancer52.

National Cancer Patient Experience Survey

The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES) is an important part of the national NHS Cancer Programme, which places patient experience as a key strategic priority. It has been designed to monitor national progress on cancer care, to drive local quality improvements, to assist commissioners and providers of cancer care, and to inform the work of the various charities and stakeholder groups supporting cancer patients. The survey is commissioned and managed by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The 2021 NCPES results will be reported this spring.

However, going forward there will be some changes to the NCPES. The data will now be available on 38 cancers (including kidney cancer), a significant increase on the previous 13 tumour groups (where kidney cancer was included with the urological cancers). This will release a lot more information about specific cancer types going forward.

If you would like to get involved with any of the initiatives mentioned here, please email us.