Transforming healthcare systems

People with cancer do not always get the practical, emotional and physical support they need. Those in disadvantaged communities are hit hardest, facing poorer outcomes, higher death rates and services that too often fail to join up. Too many people don’t get the right help at the right time, with some dropping out of treatment as a result.

We are working with health, care and voluntary organisations in Enfield and Haringey, Barking and Dagenham, and Southend to join up cancer services and improve holistic support for people affected by cancer.

We helped secure £1.8m in funding from Macmillan Cancer Support, working with teams in each area to explain why change was needed and put together strong funding proposals.

This year, we focused on helping the organisations work more effectively together. We supported partners to establish clear governance, make shared decisions and design more personalised cancer support around the needs of local communities. Early progress includes establishing multi-system steering groups, developing processes to share information about cancer diagnoses more quickly between secondary and primary care, and designing a Community Health Worker model to strengthen cancer support within local communities.

By bringing together teams that have not previously worked in this way, the programme is laying the foundations for lasting change. The aim is to make support easier to access, help people stay in cancer treatment, improve their wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.  It will also help services use resources more effectively.

Over the next year, we will help our partners to test new approaches to providing personalised cancer support in their communities. We will help them learn from this work and build evidence about which approaches could be developed and scaled more widely.