Get involved

Visit our cancer information website Cancer Matters Wessex if you are affected by cancer, whether as a patient, carer, family member or friend. You will find information about the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as links to local services and support to help you live with and beyond cancer.

Ways to get involved

Wessex Cancer Alliance recognises people affected by cancer are our partners in shaping local cancer services and support.  How people want to get involved will vary so we want to offer different ways of doing this.  Here are some of the ways you might want to explore.

Patient and Public Involvement Network

Join our Network to be involved in one off events, activities or surveys. Or you may like to volunteer to become part of a specific projects, activities or evaluations, such as Right By You, and Our Cancer Our Way.

As part of the Network, you will receive regular communications sharing opportunities to get involved, updates about our work and the impact people are having on shaping this.

Involvement Steering Group

Our Steering Group has a specific role to help shape the way we involve people and hold us account if they think we are not doing a good enough job. They meet 4 times a year and have 10-15 public members who work alongside managers and clinicians. Click here for more information about the Steering Group

Communities against cancer

A project designed to help communities and patient groups, who want to support the education and promotion of cancer awareness and messaging in their local communities. Grants can be applied for to support numerous projects and groups to spread the messages about cancer.
Find out more here

Clinical trials

Cancer patients are often asked if they would like to take part in clinical trials and you can speak to your clinical team about this if you are interested. CancerLine is an online search tool designed to help you easily identify clinical research studies that are running in the Wessex area. This tool links to the NIHR portfolio of current NHS research studies, and will allow users to filter a list of studies currently running in the Wessex area by disease area, specific diagnosis, and Wessex NHS sites. You can then use the website email tool to request further information.
Find out more here

Cancer support and information

If you have been affected by cancer and need information about services and support, please visit Cancer Matters Wessex

I became a patient representative after my cancer diagnosis.

Working alongside other patient representatives means we can all make sure that the patient voice is heard.

I bring the real-world impact and patient perspective into focus, and I get the support of the healthcare professionals willing to learn from patient’s lived experience.

I have generally had a good experience of cancer care. Other patients – especially the underrepresented groups I have met – would not describe their experience as good, so there is room for improvement.

I believe getting involved is one way of influencing how care is provided.speech mark

Della Ogunleye,
Cancer Patient Representative

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