Patient and Public Participation
The Manchester Breast Centre supports and works closely with Patient and Public Involvement groups.
We also host patient and public engagement activities such as Open Days and events at the Oglesby Cancer Research Building, the University of Manchester and more broadly across Manchester.
Vocal
Vocal creates opportunities for people to find out about, and have a voice in, health research. By bringing together patients, carers, artists, researchers, scientists and others to share their views, expertise and lived experiences, we can enhance health and research for the benefit of everyone.
Based in Greater Manchester, we work locally, nationally and internationally to make a real difference.
We’re a not-for-profit organisation, hosted by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with The University of Manchester.
Cancer & Us: Community Conversations
Between 2022 and 2023, Vocal partnered with Greater Manchester community organisations and cancer researchers on ‘Cancer & Us: Community Conversations’ to encourage more conversations about cancer.
For one of the Cancer & Us activities, Vocal and cancer researchers Michelle Harvie and Mary Pegington from the MBC and NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre collaborated with Gorton-based Healthy Me Healthy Communities (HMHC) to run Cook & Chat. People from Gorton and researchers took part in cooking workshops where they learnt new recipes, shared some food and had informal conversations about cancer, prevention and research.
Find out more: Cancer & Us: exploring the link between food and cancer | Vocal (wearevocal.org)
Visit www.wearevocal.org to discover more about our work and how people are having a say in health research.
Independent Cancer Patients' Voice (ICPV)
Independent Cancer Patients' Voice (ICPV) is a patient advocate group independent of established UK cancer charities and aware of the value of medical research to both public health and to the national economy.
Our aim is to improve existing treatments for every cancer patient and develop new treatments by bringing the patients’ voice into clinical research.
We do this by:
1. Educating, supporting and mentoring patients so that they can have an equal voice with clinicians and researchers, and
2. Bringing the patients’ voice to clinicians and researchers – i.e. by being patient advocates in clinical research so that this research takes into account the patients’ (and carers, relatives etc) viewpoint to improve outcomes (cancer mortality, morbidity, quality of life) for all people affected by cancer (patients, relatives, carers).
We involve patients in clinical research, run study days and have developed, with Barts Cancer Centre, a five day course – VOICE: Science for Patient Advocates.
Met Up UK
METUPUK is a patient advocacy group aiming to turn metastatic breast cancer (MBC) into a chronic illness and support MBC patients to gain access to the best medicines to prolong and improve their quality of life. We work towards a day when MBC can be cured.
Our key objectives are:
· Raising MBC awareness and education
· Campaigning for equitable access to treatment and drugs
· Improve patient care and treatment
One of our achievements is a red flag symptoms infographic, highlighting the five main areas where secondary breast cancer can appear. This has now been adopted by NHS England for use in their personalised care plans for primary patients.
Patient Advocate Video Education (PAVE) is a series of videos highlighting the latest in metastatic breast cancer research. PAVE is unique because patient advocates living with metastatic breast cancer conduct the interviews, including one with Dr Rob Clarke from the Manchester Breast Centre.
DenseBreast-info.org
DenseBreast-info.org is an educational resource developed to provide breast density information to both patients and health care professionals.