The North Wales Cancer Patient Forum is a voluntary group, welcoming anyone affected by cancer.
They share opportunities for patients, family and friends to use their views and experiences to help improve cancer care in the region.
By working together with cancer teams across North Wales, they aim to ensure that the patient voice is heard, especially when designing or refreshing services.
The Forum also provides an information hub. Through their website and social media they bring together and share information that may be useful for anyone affected by cancer in North Wales.
How can you get involved?
It’s easy to get involved in the Forum. If you have a personal experience of cancer care and an interest in improving cancer care for others, you will have something to offer.
Whether you have lots of time to spare or only a little and whatever your experience of cancer, they offer a variety of opportunities for you to use your cancer experience to help make a difference to cancer care in North Wales.
Here are a few examples of how you could contribute:
- Simply share your Patient Story. What worked well? What could have been better?
- Join via email. You will receive regular cancer-related news updates and requests for your views / feedback on new resources / developments in local cancer care
- Contribute to one of the Forum Locality Groups. They provide an opportunity to meet with other patients and health professionals, to learn about ‘hot topics’ for cancer services in your area, and bring a patient viewpoint to current services / new developments.
- Become a patient representative. You can bring your skills and experiences to healthcare and research groups and become a valued member of their teams.
What can the Cancer Patient Forum offer you?
- An opportunity to have a say in decisions relating to local cancer care, sharing your views and having your voice heard
- The choice to get involved as much or as little as you like
- A chance to work together with other people who have been through a similar experience
- Training and information
- Expenses for travel and costs incurred by attending meetings
Although the Forum is not a ‘support group’, working together with others who have been through a similar experience can be very positive, and an opportunity to use other professional and life skills.
For more information
Please call 01745 448 720 Ext. 3844 / 0777 365 2519 or email Catrin.Plews@wales.nhs.uk