We are delighted to be working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support on a new project: Community Voices.
C360 Admin
12/09/2024
Macmillan wants to better understand the challenges faced by people living with cancer in Essex.
Community360 (C360) has been commissioned to work with Macmillan Cancer Support to learn more about the experiences of those affected by health inequalities in Essex in relation to cancer and cancer services.
Existing research suggests that marginalised communities tend to have more negative experiences of cancer services and the project’s aim is to reach some specific cohorts, including:
> People living with sensory loss
> Learning disabilities
> Ethnic minority communities, including refugees
> LGBTQIA+
> Veterans
> Low socio-economic communities (by which we have defined households who have little or no income to deal with the negative impacts of an adverse health event, such as cancer).
We’re really proud
to be partnered.
Talking about cancer can be hard, we’re here to listen.
We are aware that people from different backgrounds are less likely to attend screening programmes and thus likely to present later with the disease. Health inequalities create unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between distinct groups within society that arise from unequal distribution of economic, social and environmental conditions.
Dedicated Macmillan Community Voices Engagement Officers are listening, engaging and connecting with local people and voluntary organisations and conducting targeted engagement with individuals and groups to better understand the challenges faced by people living with cancer in Essex.
Being told you might have cancer can be tough and hard to understand
We would like to listen to you to find out what having cancer felt like for you
We would like to learn what it was like so that we can help make things easier for other people with cancer
From the insight shared and relationships built, local partnership action plans will be developed to propose solutions to address these needs and the role voluntary groups can play.
This programme brings the opportunity to address this through working within the voluntary sector, and accessing the relationships it has across communities.
“The ‘Community Voices’ project is all about dedicating time to listen and gather feedback from the Essex community about the cancer services they have received so that, moving forward, we can help to shape and improve them.” Said Annmarie Frenchum, Macmillan Engagement Lead for Kent, Medway & Essex.
She added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Community360 who will help us to have these conversations so we can identify the barriers many people in our local communities face when accessing cancer treatment. By listening to people living with and affected by cancer, we aim to help deliver inclusive services for everyone in the future.”
The Community Voices programme will be conducted in Colchester, mid Essex and south Essex over an 18-month period to improve the understanding of local challenges and opportunities, recruit and connect interested participants, both organisations and people living with cancer, who will co-produce action plans that establish priorities in the context of their area. It will enhance the evidence available and strengthen partnerships.
Anyone interested in this project can get involved in different ways, and we urge you to contact us to find out more.
Call 01206 505250 or email information@community360.org.uk
