Welcome to another blog post from carer activist Matthew McKenzie. Did you know I am a stakeholder member of NHS England’s “Cancer Improvement Collaborative (CiC)” cohort 5? We had our Cancer Experience of Care Improvement Collaborative event, which was held over at Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre on the 5th of March.

The event was to recognise the work carried out by participants who were part of the cohort, these being the Cancer Alliances in England.

CiC Cohort 5 focus is on improving experience of cancer care for patients with a pre-existing condition (mental health, learning disability, autism and dementia) and their families and unpaid carers.

As a carer of lived experience, I was included in welcoming attendees and helping to promote the event. The recognition event was well attended and facilities were excellent. To start off with the event, we had a welcome Carl Shaw (Learning Disability & Autism Adviser NHS England) and Anna Rarity (Cancer Experience of Care Programme Manager of the National Cancer Programme) gave an Introduction to the Cancer Improvement Collaborative, which was easy to follow.

We were provided with a welcome pack which included the agenda for the day, which also included the commonly used Acronyms of the cancer programme.

We then had an introduction of the National Cancer Programme from Jodie Moffat who is the Deputy Director, Policy and Strategy of the NHS Cancer Programme.

Throughout the day there were several Project team presentations from the following

South East London Cancer Alliance
East Midlands Cancer Alliance
Humber & North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance
March Primary Care Network
Birmingham & Solihull ICB
Blackpool Teaching hospitals
North East & North Cumbria
Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire ICB
Coventry & Warwickshire

Highlights of the event was watching the carer story to show NHS England’s commitment to carers. Since I focus on unpaid carers, it was good to hear the impact of caring and how the carer managed their role as a cancer caregiver.

Another highlight was on recognising the archievements of Claire Marshall (Experience of Care Lead, Experience & Partnerships Team, People & Communities at NHS England) as she is moving on to another role.

I noticed some of the presentations allowed those with a learning disability or mental health to co-present and be part of the recognition. As the focus should allow those who use the services to co-produce and co-present the successes.

There was also a chance to network with others at the event during Lunch. I noticed some attendees were given different coloured badges to show if they were ok to chat or socialise. We cannot assume everyone is in the best mood to talk as they could be going through painful and stigmatising experiences.

The lunch provided was very good, which included vegan food. I also caught up with a few attendees and representatives from cancer alliances.

There was also a special presentation from the Quality Improvement Team from Great Ormond Street Hospital – Caitlin McGovern and Nuwanthi Yapa Mahathanthila. They presented on how Quality improvement proceeded at the hospital

The last update was from Dr Neil Churchill OBE who is the director for people and communities at NHS England. Neil spoke about the importance of the Cancer Improvement programme, raising awareness and including people’s experiences.

All in all, I found the CiC Recognition event an important way to update those involved in cancer improvement. It is important we include those who go though lived experience of cancer, but especially include those who take that extra step to use their experience to improve cancer care. That being both patient and those providing care.

I would also like to say “Well done” to Marsh Primary Care Network – Kent and Medway  on winning the Great Idea Award for their project “Improving Cancer Awareness for Care Home Staff”