KEEPING YOU UPDATED

Welcome to our Cancer Voices newsletter. This is our way of keeping you all informed about the latest internal and external opportunities we have for you to be a part of. If you have anything that is specifically related to cancer that you would like for us to share here, please do get in touch.

As always, we are grateful for your contributions to all pathways, projects and programmes in GM Cancer. We love to hear from you, so please do keep in touch by emailing us below.

Contents

Current opportunities  /  Latest updates  /  Patient Spotlight  /  GM Cancer Alliance updates  /  Additional updates / What’s coming up?

Current opportunities

Gynae Pathway Board Patient & Carer Representative 

We are seeking a Patient and/or Carer Representative to join our Gynae Pathway Board. We are particularly interested to hear from someone who has lived experience or supported someone with gynaecological cancer (in particular, ovarian or cervical). 

The pathway board representative represents the collective views of patients and carers at the pathway board by identifying appropriate areas for contribution. They do this by attending the small community meetings and working with other representatives to understand what topics/matters can be brought forward, and from their attendance at any external support groups/meetings.

If you are interested or want to find out more, please contact us at gmcancer.voices@nhs.net.

Health Inequalities Programme Board Member

We are seeking two Patient and/or Carer Representatives to join our Health Inequalities Programme Board. We are looking for individuals who have lived experience as a cancer patient or carer, are passionate about reducing health inequalities and can represent the views of diverse communities affected by cancer.

By joining the GM Cancer Alliance Health Inequalities Board as a Patient Representative, you will play a vital role in ensuring decisions meet the needs of all communities. At present board meetings are held every three months and last 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

For more information, please get in touch with us.

Genomics Education Event - patient involvement

We will be holding a Genomics Education Event on Friday 16 January 2026 in Manchester City Centre. The event will be an opportunity to share all the ongoing work both nationally and locally to improve equity of access to genomic testing in cancer. We would love to include within the event, opportunities to share patient stories to show the impact of genomics on our patients and their cancer treatment. 

• Have you been offered genomic testing?
• Have you been offered a targeted treatment/ precision medicine?
• Have you been offered germline genomic testing to understand your risk of other cancers in the future?

If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Send us an email to gmcancer.voices@nhs.net and register your interest.

Latest updates

GM Cancer Voices - personal development training sessions

We are excited to be working again with the organisation Delve to bring you five exciting training sessions on a range of personal development topics, exclusively for Patient and Carer Representatives. They will take place from September to January. These sessions have been funded using some remaining budget from last year. Given the current climate, it is unlikely we will be able to

host these training sessions again in the near future. We therefore encourage you to make the most of this opportunity if you can.

There are five session topics in total, and each session will be delivered twice – online on MS Teams and in-person at The Christie. They will be two hours long, and you can sign up to as many sessions as you feel you would benefit from.

Session topics include:

• Confidence: starting conversations that count
• Communicating with impact: being brief
• Assertiveness: speaking up for what matters
• Leading and influencing: finding your voice
• Wellbeing: staying steady when things get stressful

For more details on each session and to sign up, please complete our short survey: https://forms.office.com/e/mSiDenWLeA

Magpie Tumour Specific campaign

GM Cancer Data training session

On Wednesday 16 July, 1-2:30pm the Business Intelligence team delivered a great Data Training session for all our patient and carer representatives. The session explored a variety of topics and questions that the representatives had.  We hope to run the session again in autumn.

GM Cancer Voices Catch Up 

This coming September, we will be holding our quarterly GM Cancer Voices Catch Up events. Please see dates below:

Friday 12 September - 10am - 12:30pm at Friends Meeting House, Manchester, M2 5NS

Monday 15 September - 11am - 1pm virtually on MS Teams

To register to attend, please fill out our registration link.

Personalised Care Animation Focus Groups

The Personalised Care Team are currently developing a new six-part animation series that explores important topics such as relationships, body changes, and intimacy.

Following the development of our first animation - Sexual Self Through Treatment and Beyond, many patient representatives shared that they would appreciate more information on specific topics and we’re keen to continue to ensure this series reflects real-life experiences. To help shape the content, we’re inviting patients / carers to take part in focus groups for each animation.

If you’re interested, you can join a focus group discussion—or if you’d prefer a 1-2-1 conversation, Olivia would be happy to connect with you one-to-one.

Focus Groups:

Prostate, Penile, Anal and Bladder: Tuesday 19 August 10am - 12pm

Breast: Monday 8 September 1 - 3pm

Gynaecological, Anal and Bladder: Wednesday 8 October 10am - 12pm

Please get in touch if you would like to take part.

Genomics in cancer care animation series

Genomic testing now informs standard of care treatments across many tumour groups as well as helping to inform people of their future risk of some cancers. With input from our Cancer Voices Community, we have created a series of short

animations to help patients understand how genomics might be used in their care and treatment.  These can also be a useful resource to support staff less familiar with genomics and open up discussions between professionals and their patients. Thank you to all the patient and carer representatives that contributed to the animations.

All videos are available via The Alliance YouTube Channel.

Patient spotlight

Tom joins the Early Diagnosis Board

Tom is one of our new volunteers, who is passionate about making a difference. Tom recently joined the Early Diagnosis Pathway Group and Head and Neck Small Community with the hope of giving something back after his own experience with head and neck cancer. His message is simple: “Cancer can be beaten – if in doubt, get checked out.” You can read more about Tom’s cancer journey on his blog: https://thomastrumpscancer.blogspot.com/

Ben Garlick shares his journey to encourage others

Ben Garlick shares his cancer story for World Head and Neck Cancer Day. When his persistent cough wouldn’t go away, he went to his GP and was sent for tests at Tameside Hospital. It was here he got the devastating news he had cancer of the voicebox, also known as laryngeal cancer. Ben has joined out Cancer Voices Community and recently joined the Faster Diagnosis Delivery Group which aims to improve cancer diagnosis in Greater Manchester. Ben shares “I’ve always been a bit quiet which is probably a good thing for me but I’m keen to speak when it comes to sharing my experience and to show others there is hope after cancer.” Read the full article on our website!

GM Cancer Alliance updates

Breast cancer symptom awareness work

Our data shows some women including those just below breast cancer screening age (40-50), those just above screening age (71+) and those from ethnic minorities are more likely to delay going to their GP with symptoms of breast cancer - and this is something we'd like to change.

We held five focus groups with women from these communities to find out what messages and methods work best for them, what imagery and text they best respond to and where they access health information. 

Following this research, three creative concepts were created and we've selected our final one which we're making finishing touches to and will roll out in autumn. Watch this space.

New AI-tool to help diagnose prostate cancer

A new AI-tool which helps identify men who need prostate cancer treatment most urgently is being launched by Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance at hospitals in the region. Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance is one of five cancer alliances to share a £2.25 million cash injection announced by the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare to fund the scheme. The funding will support the roll out of Lucida Medical’s AI technology, Prostate Intelligence (Pi™) across three Trusts in Greater Manchester led by Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance. Find out the full details on our website.

If in Doubt, Check it Out campaign

One of our patient and carer representatives Tracey, is one of those at the heart of a powerful new campaign launched by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance. Tracey, an HR officer from Greater Manchester, is encouraging people to visit their doctor if they notice signs or symptoms that might indicate cancer.​

The campaign message is simple but urgent: ‘If something doesn’t feel right, don’t wait—book an appointment with your GP.’

Find out more by reading the full article.

Additional updates

Let’s talk about cervical cancer screening

Are you from Oldham? Do you have a few minutes to complete a short survey? Cervical screening, which used to be called a smear test, is a test to check the health of the cervix and help prevent cervical cancer. It's offered to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64. Oldham has recorded the 4th lowest uptake across Greater Manchester (GM), and there are big differences between GP practices, with the rate of the highest performing practice being 80% and the lowest performing practice being 42%.  We hope the survey and focus group findings help contribute to a better understanding of barriers to cervical cancer screening and what increased accessibility (and thus uptake) looks like in Oldham, to support the ambitious NHS goal of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040. Link to survey

National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES) results The latest NHS England National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES) results highlight the excellent standard of care being delivered in Greater Manchester.   Patients in the region rated their care 9.1 out of 10, surpassing the national average of 8.9.  The results will also be used to identify where improvements can be made to diagnosis, treatment and care. Find out more: https://www.ncpes.co.uk/latest-results/

What's coming up?

GM Cancer Programme Assurance Group

Wednesday 13 August 2025, 10am - 12pm - Virtual Microsoft Teams

Personalised Care Programme Board 

Thursday 14 August 2025, 2 - 4pm - Brooks Building, 53 Bonsall Street, M15 6GX

Early Diagnosis Programme Board

Tuesday 26 August 2025, 11am - 1pm - Virtual Microsoft Teams

Meet and Greet Session 1

Tuesday 2 September 2025, 5:30 - 6:30pm - Virtual Microsoft Teams

Volunteer Training: Confidence - starting conversations

that count

Wednesday 3 September 2025, 6 - 8pm - Virtual Microsoft Teams

GM Genomics Delivery Group

Thursday 4 September 2025, 9:30 - 11am - Virtual Microsoft Teams

Meet and Greet Session 2 

Friday 5 September 2025, 12 - 1pm - Virtual Microsoft Teams

If you are a healthcare professional and have an opportunity you’d like to advertise, please get in touch at gmcancer.voices@nhs.net

Get in touch with the team at gmcancer.voices@nhs.net.

Find out more about the GM Cancer Voices Community on our website.

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