It’s Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) and Thames Valley Cancer Alliance (TVCA) is seeking new patient voices to help improve cancer services across the region.

As part of the NHS, TVCA is committed to putting patients, and all those affected by cancer, at the heart of our work. So there is a role for cancer patients, their family members, and/or carers to get involved and help shape our cancer services.

Could this be you?

Volunteer patient participants may help plan patient engagement activities and contribute towards cancer awareness campaigns. They also join healthcare professionals on tumour specific clinical advisory groups (CAGs), so they have a platform to really influence improvements in cancer care.

TVCA was established by the NHS to bring together cancer specialists, experts, and charities, with people and communities throughout Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and parts of Wiltshire, and Surrey, to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan to improve cancer services. Its ambition is to offer the best possible experience and outcome for every patient affected by cancer across the Thames Valley.

Patrick is a patient volunteer

Patrick McGuire is already a TVCA volunteer.  He started volunteering after his wife died from bowel cancer.  His focus is to ensure that cancer services are responsive to the needs of people affected by cancer throughout their cancer journey.

He said: “Volunteering with TVCA as a Patient and Public Involvement representative is a hugely enjoyable and rewarding activity. I really feel I can make a difference and play my small part alongside so many others helping to improve diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes for cancer patients and their families.”

Vital volunteer voices

Lyndel Moore, Clinical Lead Nurse at TVCA said: “During Volunteers’ Week we thank the many people who support our work by giving their own time and experience.

“Our volunteer patient voices are vital to our work. Whether you have a lived experience of cancer, or are a member of a cancer patient’s family, or a carer, you can help us identify what matters most to the people we care for.

“We know that sharing the experience of looking after a loved one is an important influence on improvements in cancer care.

“Patient voices ensure that all parts of our communities are represented so that their needs are considered in the services we deliver. We particularly welcome volunteers from under-represented groups within our communities. We are able to provide a language or BSL interpreter as needed.

“Ideally patients volunteers need to have completed their treatment, but we are interested to hear from anyone who has been affected by cancer who feels their experience can help with our continuous improvement of services.”

So if you have been touched by cancer and want to put it to good use within our NHS, email Lisa Cox, the TVCA Patient Engagement and Experience Lead, for an informal chat about how you could come on board.

Ends