Purpose
Having a cancer diagnosis can be a lonely place – you can feel isolated and alone. Yorkshire Cancer Community was set up by cancer patients and carers who recognised that by coming together and sharing information we can help each other.
We are a charity who provides impartial and independent information and listens to those affected by cancer to ensure that they are supported and their voices elevated.
We can signpost to patient support groups across Yorkshire and Humber and to regional and national charities for specific cancers. We can invite you to our own monthly support group leaders network or offer help to someone setting up a support group for the first time. We can share patient stories in our monthly newsletter and help recruit patients and carers for research studies.
You might want to get involved by raising cancer awareness for Cancer SMART or use your lived experience of cancer or caring to improve cancer services as a member of Patient View.
Come and find out more. We would love you to join our community.
Our Aims
- Raise awareness of what Yorkshire Cancer Community does
- Develop connections
- Listen to those affected
- Collect and share information
- Identify opportunities to share experiences
- Measure and monitor the impact of activities/support groups etc
- Undertake special projects
- Raise funds for all of the above
In addition to our Cancer SMART work, we also
- Work closely with support groups and keep an updated list of available support groups
- Hold support group leaders network meetings to create an opportunity for support group leaders to come together to discuss their groups and share ideas
- Create a monthly newsletter full of relevant information and inspiring patient stories
- Answer enquiries and signpost to relevant organisations as necessary
- Help research and development organisations recruit patient and carer representatives
- Work with the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance to ensure the voices of cancer patients, carers and service users are heard and central to its work in the transformation of cancer care and services in our region by joining our Patient VIEW panel.
Our Achievements – Cancer SMART
In the five years since Cancer SMART began, we have grown from strength to strength, spreading the Cancer SMART message far and wide, with particular focus paid on reaching diverse groups who are often harder to reach. Here’s a few statistics from our most recent impact report.
- 263 Digital Champions – an increase of 62 (30%) on last year
- 30 Cancer Champions – an increase of 50%
- 7 Cancer Champion online meetings with Cancer Alliance colleagues
- 3 face to face Cancer Champion meetings, one in Huddersfield and two in Leeds including an Away Day in October at the Thackray Medical Museum which was attended by 20 people
- 25 different cancer champions were involved in information stalls, talks, podcasts/webinars, compared to 15 volunteers the previous year
- We have taken part in 120 events including galas, cancer awareness events and coffee mornings where we’ve given talks, presentations or run information stalls
- This is a 28% increase on events attended in the previous calendar year
- Volunteers have donated a total of 847 hours (not including travel) to deliver Cancer SMART and to attend training or networking sessions
- We’ve talked to more than 3000 people at the above events and given away hundreds of leaflets
Our History
Yorkshire used to have a well-developed Cancer Network which allowed people affected by cancer and healthcare professionals to work together and decide how best to develop and deliver services. Patients played an active role and contributed to peer reviews as well as carrying out patient-led research.
However, in 2013, the Cancer Network was changed by the Government into the Strategic Clinical Network.
This new network didn’t just focus on cancer but looked at a whole range of long-term conditions such as mental health, cardiovascular disease and maternity services.
Investment in the cancer infrastructures gradually declined until, by the end of 2014, there were only a few individuals remaining as active participants in cancer service design and delivery.
The voice and influence of people affected by cancer on a Yorkshire-wide footprint began to decrease, with hospital Trust based participation groups following shortly behind. Newly-formed Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) patient panels were not cancer specific, where they existed at all.
In 2014, Macmillan Cancer Support began to support the newly formed Yorkshire Cancer Patient Forum. The Forum was initially made up of members from the old Cancer Network, who believed that people affected by cancer should have their say on services.
The new Forum carried out a survey of local self-help and support groups, of individuals affected by cancer, and of people involved in delivering services and found overwhelming support for the development of the Forum.
The Forum grew from strength to strength and in March 2015 received a small amount of funding from Macmillan User Involvement Grant Stream to develop a website and to host events to bring like-minded people together.
By early 2017 HealthWatch Wakefield had successfully applied to Macmillan Cancer Support to fund a worker to support the Yorkshire Cancer Patient Forum.
For three years, Macmillan, Healthwatch Wakefield and the Forum worked in partnership to rebuild user involvement from grass roots levels and to ensure the voice of patients was at the heart of cancer service design and improvement – a sentiment echoed by the NHS Five Year Forward View.
During that time the Forum, in consultation with its membership, changed its name to Yorkshire Cancer Community, a name which was felt to more effectively describe this unique network of patients, carers and professionals working within cancer services and charities, covering all of Yorkshire and the Humber.
In October 2019, Yorkshire Cancer Community became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and in March 2020, Macmillan funding ceased. The Charity Trustees successfully took on the employment of Engagement & Communications Officer Jill Long, who was TUPED across from Healthwatch and funding was secured from several sources.
Meet the team
We are a patient-led charity. Find out more about the people behind Yorkshire Cancer Community
Our Projects
We have three projects we are currently working on. Cancer SMART, Patient VIEW and Don’t Be The One
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