Campaigning for change fact sheet
CancerLine 0808 808 2020 www.macmillan.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity number 261017. Isle of Man charity number 604.
We campaign for a better deal for people with cancer
Macmillan campaigns for a better deal for people with cancer, now and in the future. We want everyone with cancer to receive the right treatment and level of support regardless of who they are and where they live. We believe the NHS and benefits system should take into account the specific needs of people having treatment for cancer so that they do not have to personally bear the costs of potentially life-saving treatment. We want the health service to treat the person, not just the disease and we want to ensure that cancer stays a priority for the government. We work to raise awareness of cancer issues and campaign to bring about changes in opinion, policy and practice at both a regional and national level. Whether they focus on raising public awareness, involve working with politicians, or both, all our campaigns have one common goal – to make a positive and permanent change to the lives of people affected by cancer. Our current campaigning priorities are: 1. Tackling hardship and getting a better financial deal 2. Getting new cancer strategies in all four UK countries 1. Tackling hardship and getting a better financial deal Macmillan launched the Better Deal campaign in November 2004 with the aim of tackling hardship and getting a better financial deal for people dealing with cancer. We’re doing this in a number of different ways: Ensuring people affected by cancer get the financial benefits to which they are entitled o We successfully campaigned so that new ‘information prescriptions’ for patients include information about financial support as well as information about the type of cancer they have, its treatment, and local support groups and charities. Macmillan is running a pilot for the Department of Health to see how information prescriptions could work best for patients. o We’ve also been lobbying the Government to change the Welfare Reform Bill so that people with a terminal illness get financial support as easily and quickly as possible, seriously ill cancer patients won’t be forced to attend work focused interviews to get their benefits, and people with cancer will be told about all the benefits to which they are entitled when they get in contact with Jobcentre Plus. Key achievements so far: Ensuring the Government includes financial support information in the new information prescriptions for patients; changes to the Welfare Reform Act to make it quicker and easier for people with cancer to claim benefits.
CancerLine 0808 808 2020 www.macmillan.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity number 261017. Isle of Man charity number 604.
Cutting the costs of getting to treatment o We spent the first half of 2006 working with the Health Select Committee to highlight the excessive costs paid by cancer patients to get to hospital for treatment. The Committee’s supportive report in June persuaded the Government to update guidance ‘strongly recommending’ hospitals offer free or reduced price car parking for patients travelling regularly to hospital and their main visitors. This year we want to ensure hospitals actually implement this new guidance. o We also managed to persuade the Department of Health to look at how to improve public awareness of the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to make sure patients on low incomes get the financial support to which they are entitled. Key achievement so far: Securing updates to government guidance ‘strongly recommending’ hospitals offer concessions to cancer patients and visitors. Helping people to get easier access to travel insurance We launched the newest part of our Better Deal campaign in May. Our Recovered but not yet Covered campaign highlights the issue of travel insurance and we are working within the financial industry to make it easier for people who have been affected by cancer to access travel insurance. Helping people keep their jobs and get back to work The best way to stop people with jobs getting into financial difficulty when they get cancer is to help them keep their job and to get back to work after treatment. We’ll be developing campaigning activity around this issue later in the year. 2. Getting new cancer strategies in all four UK countries As treatment of cancer is changing, so we believe cancer strategies in all four UK countries need to change too. More people are living longer with the disease and they want to be far more involved in decisions about their care and treatment. Health and social care services have also changed significantly over the past decade and are continuing to change. These changes create new opportunities and challenges. We’ve been working for the past 18 months to convince the Government that the National Cancer Plan in England needs revising. In November 2006 the Government announced that it would put in place a new Cancer Reform Strategy at the end of 2007. Now we’re supporting senior Macmillan staff to work with the Government and senior representatives from the NHS and voluntary sector to develop the strategy. The Scottish Executive has also announced it will update its current plan. Our teams in Wales and Northern Ireland are looking at how best to campaign for new strategies in the rest of the UK. Key achievements so far: New cancer strategies in England and Scotland announced.
CancerLine 0808 808 2020 www.macmillan.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity number 261017. Isle of Man charity number 604.
Working in partnership One of the best ways to campaign effectively is to work in partnership with other cancer charities. We are part of a number of important coalitions including the Cancer Campaigning Group, Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, Disability Benefits Consortium, Health Hotel, and the UK Lung Cancer Coalition. For more information, please contact the Campaigns team on 020 7840 7807 or email campaigns@macmillan.org.uk
Fact sheet last updated June 2007
CancerLine 0808 808 2020 www.macmillan.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity number 261017. Isle of Man charity number 604.