Newsletter for
Macmillan Professionals
October 2008
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Newsletter for
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Welcome
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NewsMacmillan coming to a TV near youMaking people aware of how we can support them is vital and that’s why Macmillan is launching its latest awareness campaign on 1 October. We aim to raise awareness of Macmillan amongst people living with cancer and people affected by cancer. We will be talking specifically about how we can support people who feel alone or are having financial worries because of a cancer diagnosis. And we will be targeting specific groups of people living with cancer most in need of our support, such as very poor elderly people or those working on low incomes. You’ll see the campaign: On television In the press Online So that you know what’s coming, we want to give you a sneak preview of the TV ad, and lots more. Visit www.macmillan.org.uk/sneakpreview to see it - but please make sure you don’t share it until 1 October. If you have any questions take a look at our Q&As attached which should provide some of the answers. Benefits shake-up From 27 October we will see a major shake-up in the benefits system with the introduction of a new benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). This will replace Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on the grounds of incapacity. People who currently claim Incapacity Benefit will initially be unaffected by the introduction of ESA. However, there are plans to move all claimants on to ESA. While ESA will affect many people living with cancer, Macmillan has worked hard to make sure key changes were made to the benefit before it became law. Macmillan persuaded the Government to automatically place all people receiving Cancer prescriptions campaign successGordon Brown has announced that from next year people with cancer and long term conditions will not pay prescriptions charges in England. Ciarán Devane, Macmillan Cancer Support's chief executive welcomed the move, which will relieve the financial burden faced by cancer patients in England who have been struggling to pay these unfair charges for too long. The announcement is the latest success for the campaign which saw the Scottish Government promise a phasing out of charges in Scotland by 2011 and the scrapping of charges in Wales in April 2007. The campaign to deliver a fair deal on prescription charges for cancer patients in Northern Ireland continues. Find out more with our October campaigns update. |
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Learning and developmentThe latest from the Learn ZoneWould you like to be more benefits-aware? Well you can with our e-learning course. We’ve made some amends to this course recently in light of the introduction of the new Employment and Support Allowance. Plus, check out the exciting new resources going online at the start of October – an entertaining collection of bite-sized learning materials from Video Arts and e-learn (Macmillan’s e-learning collection for staff, including project management, Microsoft Office etc). You can access all this and more at the Learn Zone. Macmillan courses and resources for people affected by cancer Macmillan also offers a range of free learning and development opportunities for people affected by cancer. Some of these courses may also be of relevance to health and social care professionals, so we’re making them available to you, too. You can find out more at the Learn Zone - call 020 7091 2010 or email workshops@macmillan.org.uk Survivorship: living with or beyond cancer, 6-7 November 2008, Stratford-upon-Avon We have been overwhelmed with requests for places at this forthcoming event and have filled all available space. While we realise some of you will have been disappointed not to get a place at this event, we have already set the dates for the next one, so put it in your diaries now! It’s going to be held on 14-15 May and will probably be held at a location in the North of England. More information will be included in December’s edition of the newsletter. As at previous events, we’re going to make all the presentations and workshop discussions available via the Learn Zone, together with some pod-casting of the main plenary sessions. |
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Get involvedSupport our Macmillan brand awareness campaign We have lots of ways you can get involved in our campaign to help spread the word: If you’d like to get involved from 1 October onwards please visit the Macmillan website to take action and tell everyone about how we can change lives. You can also get involved by letting us know what impact the campaign has had on your service, so please let us know at macservices@macmillan.org.uk |
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From 1 October you’ll notice lots of changes to the way the Macmillan and Cancerbackup websites look. These improvements will support the brand awareness campaign and make it easier for people to find the information and support they need. You’ll be able to download the two booklets – Help with the cost of cancer and How are you feeling? from our websites or order them free of charge from www.be.macmillan.org.uk. And there’s plenty of opportunities to view our new TV ad and download posters to support the campaign as well. We’ve also made changes to our online communities – Share and What Now? – and our new Life Map, where users can post their photos, stories and news, will be launched by the end of October. Our new Employment and Support Allowance factsheet is also available to download from the financial help pages on the Macmillan website, and both sites will be providing the same detailed information and emotional, financial and practical support for people affected by cancer. |
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We’re sending this, the October edition, out early as it has a special focus on our Autumn awareness campaign and we wanted to be sure you hear all about it before our activity starts on 1 October.
