Welcome and Meet the Team

One of the main ways that people choose to become involved with our work is through our GM Cancer Voices Community. We have a variety of different opportunities available and aim to be as flexible as possible to suit your needs, lifestyle, and interests. Where available, we offer virtual and/or face-to-face options to participate to suit your preferences.

Take a look at the short video below where our Communications and Engagement Lead, Anna Perkins, introduces our programme and some of its members.

Find out more about different ways in which you can get involved by clicking on one of the links below: 

Who do you need to be to get involved?

To get involved with us, you will have:

  • Experienced a cancer diagnosis and/or treatment, OR, have cared for somebody with a cancer diagnosis (a family member, friend, or loved one). This could be a past or present experience.
  • Treatment for this diagnosis was received within Greater Manchester.

How do I join?

To register as a Patient and Carer Representative, please complete our online registration form. 

Want to know more first?

Take our online induction course to find out more and decide whether you would like to get involved. You can also get in touch with us via email at gmcancer.voices@nhs.net.

What can I get involved in?

Take a look at the some of the examples below to see the various we could work with you…

A chart with text reading: Review, Co-produce and co-create, Present, Participate and Share your story

  • On our podcast – have a listen!
  • In a blog post, or Manchester Evening News article – have a read!
  • In events and training for clinical staff

  • Online patient information
  • Patient leaflets
  • Patient glossaries

  • Agendas for our Coffee & Cake events
  • Education days for clinical staff
  • Our Greater Manchester Cancer Conference
  • Surveys and survey design

  • To clinical staff about the importance of patient and carer voices
  • As part of our Greater Manchester Cancer Conference
  • At our Coffee & Cake events

  • In creative workshops
  • In working groups to improve new clinical services
  • In small communities
  • On pathway boards
  • In interview panels and appraisals for staff
  • In the ‘Patients Choice Award’ for our Greater Manchester Cancer Conference Awards

Why should you get involved?

Being a part of our community ensures you have access to a range of opportunities to get involved, and our support in doing so. Our community currently has around 100 members registered who receive:

We are developing an online educational resource, co-designed and developed with our members and digital learning experts, to help you understand who we are and what we do. By completing this module, we also hope your confidence about your role as patient and carer representative will increase. Our team are also always here to offer 1:1 informal support to answer any questions you may have.

We know that our members value keeping up to date with the latest news and developments. That’s why we keep you informed with our fortnightly GM Cancer Voices Newsletter. This newsletter includes an array of information including the latest internal and external opportunities, cancer awareness campaigns and events, the latest cancer news/media stories from GM residents, and spotlights on the incredible work of our patient and carer representatives, both internal and external to the alliance.

It’s important that you feel connected to us, our staff, and other community members. This is why we host our coffee & cake events four times a year, both face-to-face in central Manchester and virtually on MS Teams. These events are an informal opportunity to get to know the other members on our programme, hear about the local work that is taking place, and a chance for you to showcase your own!

Our team are here to make sure that you feel supported in your role. That’s why we’re available over the phone, email, face-to-face for a catch up, or even over a text. We’ll do our best to provide you with support in a way that’s best suited to you.

Being a member of our GM Voices Community means that you will be surrounded by like-minded individuals, all with the same goal of improving the quality of cancer service and care delivered across Greater Manchester.

Once registered, you will have access to all of the above, and can take part as much or as little as you like. We also work with our patient and carer representatives to continually improve our offer. You are free to leave the community at any point if it is no longer right for you or your circumstances change. Although, we’d love it if you could stay!

How does it work?

Members involved in our community are called Patient and Carer Representatives, as they represent the experience of a service from the patient’s perspective. This perspective may be from the past, present, or from directly caring for someone with this experience.

In our GM Cancer Voices Community, a lot of our work takes place using a co-production model. We have more information about this coming in our online induction module, but this means that everyone involved in our work brings their own value and insight, and we work together on an equal basis to achieve a beneficial outcome. Take a look at the video, where some of our representatives talk about what co-production means to them and its benefits.