United by Unique - more than a disease

Each year, on 4 February, we observe World Cancer Day, an initiative organised by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). 

A day when the world comes together to reflect, re-focus, and raise awareness of cancer, and presents an opportunity to pool resources to help better educate and share the different ways we can prevent cancer and reduce its impact on people, communities and countries.

With all attention given to cancer for just one day, World Cancer Day, also presents a chance to encourage governments, other key stakeholders and policy makers to take the necessary action to make positive changes for cancer patients everywhere.

Cancer patients are more than a statistic

The theme of this year’s campaign is United by Unique which serves as sober reminder that cancer patients are more than a statistic and more than just a dot on a graph.

United by Unique places people at the heart of this narrative. Every cancer diagnosis brings with it uncertainty, as it profoundly effects people and their family’s circumstances in many ways - emotionally, physically, mentally and financially, to name just a few.

Behind every cancer diagnosis is a personal story - one that requires empathy and compassion for the best care to be delivered and the best outcome achieved.

A Wales united against cancer through world-class research

Living out our vision statement ‘A Wales united against cancer through world-class research’, at Cancer Research Wales we have long understood the need for active participation of every individual and each community to engage and come together, so collectively, we can change the future for cancer patients everywhere.

With this comes the promise to fund the best research that has the greatest potential to help the patients of today, as well as discover and develop the new cancer medicines of tomorrow. 

As well as laboratories our research takes place in communities and GP surgeries. This often involves patients and their families, enabling their voices to be heard, and their needs understood, as well as the health professionals who care for them, to ensure we can bring about effective change, through the research we fund.

Encouraging people to openly share their needs and feelings

The COMBaT study is one such project which along with brain tumour patients and their families aims to encourage people to openly share their needs and feelings as they navigate the treatment pathway, which is often very difficult and challenging. 

By sensitively and consistently asking people with brain tumours to share how they are feeling we hope to identify and co-develop a set of core patient-centred outcomes to ensure people’s needs are always met.

A framework of clinically important questions that brain tumour patients can both ask and answer on a regular basis will allow clinicians to formulate timely treatment responses where and when necessary. 

Questions of this nature, when asked regularly and reliably, are key enablers for achieving inclusive, patient-centred care resulting in improved health outcomes and care experiences for all. To date this has been lacking, but by working with patients, families and the scientists we fund, we can change this.

Improving the way cancer is diagnosed

Taking place in GP surgeries across Wales, and the north west and south west of England, our ThinkCancer! primary care study is looking to improve how cancer is diagnosed at the very centre of our communities. 

Working with clinicians and non-clinical staff in GP surgeries an intervention has been designed that will increase the knowledge of cancer symptoms across the whole primary care practice and encourage positive behaviour change with respect to cases of suspected cancer referrals. 

A central component of the study is improved safety-netting procedures to ensure that no-one is left behind.

The above are just some examples of how we are putting patients at the centre of what we do and keeping in line with this year’s theme of United by Unique, we will in a few weeks’ time be announcing new projects that look to better help people with additional needs. 

In doing so we hope to close the cancer inequality gap, so people everywhere, get access to the same level of cancer care, regardless of social status, ethnicity, disability or gender.

This is a task we cannot do alone, therefore why not partner with us this World Cancer Day, either by sharing your story, or by taking part in one of many fundraising events we have taking place this year, as we celebrate 60 years of providing world-class cancer research, treatment and care in Wales.