Campaigning on cancer: success stories

In 2017, we launched our campaign to ‘Make money one less worry’, which aims to make sure everyone gets the support they need to cope with the financial impact of cancer.

2017:

January

Many people aged 65 and over with cancer rely on Attendance Allowance for help with things they can’t manage themselves, like bathing, dressing or getting around.

• We were concerned that proposed changes could have made it harder for people affected by cancer to access this vital financial support.
• We worked with campaigners to help them share their experiences of Attendance Allowance, to demonstrate to the Government just how important it is that people can access this vital benefit, and why the changes shouldn’t go ahead.
• Our voices were heard. Having listened to Macmillan and others’ concerns, the Government dropped proposals to make changes to the benefit Attendance Allowance.

February

• We published our No Small Change report, highlighting the extent of the problem: four in five people with cancer are £570 a month worse off as a result of their diagnosis.
• The report sets out recommendations for what UK governments, financial services firms, health bodies and the NHS can do to better support people who experience the financial impact of cancer.

June

• We released In The Balance, a report outlining the banking sector’s vital role in supporting people with cancer.
• We held a reception in Parliament to launch the report, bringing politicians, industry experts, and organisations representing customers together to discuss what can be done to make sure people get the help they need to manage their money worries. 

July

• We launched our ‘Give us a break’ campaign, asking for people who have or have had cancer to share their experience of getting travel insurance with us.
• Over 400 people responded, strengthening our evidence base so that we can continue our campaign to make sure people with cancer can access clear and fairly priced travel insurance policies. 

November

• We launched our ‘Banking on change’ campaign calling for banks and building societies to help their customers to manage the cost of cancer. 
• With Macmillan Nurse Miranda, we’ve written a letter to UK Finance urging them to support our campaign for organisations in the banking sector to have a legal duty of care towards their customers.
• Over 20,000 people added their support to Miranda’s letter.

What next?

We're continuing to campaign to make sure everyone gets the help they need to cope with the money worries that cancer can bring.

Too many people across the UK are not getting the support they need when treatment ends, and this needs to change.

In 2017 we campaigned to raise awareness of the different support needs people have once treatment ends.

Autumn 2017 – Macmillan’s World Biggest Coffee Morning in Parliament

• 2300 people invited their local MP to Macmillan’s World‘s Biggest Coffee Morning to learn more about the challenges people face after cancer treatment.
• 99% of MPs in England were invited by you, and a record-breaking 126 MPs came along to meet campaigners like Frances and hear more about the challenges people face after treatment.

What next?

• Read Frances’s blog and find out more about the life after treatment campaign.

We have campaigned with the belief that at the end of life, everyone should be able to die in the place and manner of their choosing.

2017

January

The Government had committed to deliver high quality, personalised care for everyone at the end of life; a massive campaign success won by our campaigners in 2016.

• But one year on, there was still a long way to go to turn this plan into action that delivered better care for cancer patients at the end of their life.

March

• As part of the End of Life Care Coalition, we found that nearly half of draft local health plans in England had no mention or little detail of how end of life care would be improved.

June

• At the General Election in June, your action to email your local candidates helped keep end of life care as a priority for all major parties, including the new Government.

Autumn

• Nearly 900 of you shared your stories of care at the end of life with us.

December

• Macmillan research revealed the situation was even worse for people from the poorest areas in England at the end of life.
• Our report, ‘The Final Injustice’, showed that cancer patients from the poorest areas are 18% more likely to die in hospital than those from the least deprived areas, and had around 15,000 more emergency hospital admissions in the final year of life.

What next?

We're continuing to campaign for better end of life care and support for people with cancer at the end of life.

Ahead of the General Election in June, we asked Macmillan campaigners and supporters to email their local candidates and let them know that cancer matters.

Too often people don’t get the support they need:

• Health and care staff are facing unsustainable pressure.
• Many people are struggling to cope with the cost of cancer.
• Wishes about care at the end of life aren’t being met.

Over 1700 people emailed their candidates. Almost 6500 emails were sent to election candidates, across all parties.

2017

November

Evidence from the Wales Cancer Patient Experience Survey showed that many people are not getting the information they need to understand their cancer treatment.

In response, Macmillan Wales created Your Cancer Care in Wales, an information guide to help people with cancer find the information they need to understand cancer treatment in Wales. 

• Over 65 champions across Wales signed up to champion the guide; with over 500 downloads of the guide in its first week.
• We’ll be continuing to work with our champions to improve access to treatment information in Wales. Are you interested in becoming a champion? There’s still time - sign up now.

Read the guide in Welsh here.