Working Together
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, to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan to improve cancer services. Our ambition is to offer the best possible experience and outcome for every patient affected by cancer across the Thames Valley.
The Patient Perspective
Christine Wright from Bicester has recently become a TVCA patient representative. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021 but, following successful surgery and treatment, she has volunteered at her local hospital and also with the Colostomy UK Helpline.
She said: “The cancer medical teams are skilled and caring. They see hundreds of patients, day to day, year after year, making changes for the better all the time. But someone who has actually lived through the sometimes scary, and often life-changing experience of cancer, can really see things from the patient perspective. Patients really can make a valuable contribution to ongoing improvement in cancer care.”
The Healthcare Professional’s Perspective
Mrs Jennifer Graystone, TVCA Clinical Director, Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, and Head & Neck Cancer Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust said:
“Our volunteer patient voices are vital to our work. Whether you have experienced cancer as a patient, 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.
“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 patient 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.
“And of course, during the national Volunteers’ Week, we thank the many people who support our work by giving their own time and experience.”
Make Contact
So if you have been touched by cancer and want to put your experience 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.
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