Cheshire & Merseyside Cancer Alliance

Now, more than ever, collaboration between health, social care and the voluntary sector is vital to achieve better outcomes for families across the region as we navigate these challenging post-pandemic times. CVS Cheshire East are pleased to be working with Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance to encourage and enable groups in the voluntary sector to increase cancer awareness.

How are we doing this?

Groups and organisations all have one thing in common – they know their communities well and talk to them regularly. Perhaps these groups can facilitate conversations around cancer screening opportunities, could they help health professionals understand the barriers to early detection and help understand why some of those being offered screening are not attending their appointments? There is now a greater focus on early detection to improve cancer outcomes but people are often unsure about attending screening appointments or just don’t want to think about their health and so put it off. A conversation might be all that is needed for a screening appointment to be taken up.

Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance Community delivery lead Moray Hayman, who leads the programme, said:

“This initiative seeks to support local communities to reduce their risk of dying from cancer, by improving community understanding and awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer and encouraging appropriate health-seeking behaviour.

“We are also encouraging more people who experience cancer to be supported to achieve emotional wellbeing and to reduce stigma and discrimination relating to cancer diagnosis.

“By working with voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, the scheme focuses on improving knowledge of the signs and symptoms of cancer within local communities, encouraging more people to go for NHS screening when they are invited and to reduce inequalities in access to high-quality cancer treatment.”

If further information or support is needed, CVS will be happy to provide resources to allow groups to access the information they need. Look out for further posts from us and reach out to the CVS team for further details; together we aim to improve cancer outcomes through simple conversations.