Thanks to the 70,000 incredible supporters who signed our open letters to UK leaders for our Unite. Diagnose. Save lives. campaign we’re making more progress than ever before in driving early detection.
As part of the campaign, thousands of you signed our open letters calling on our UK governments to commit to the following three actions:
We united with passionate campaigner Isla Gear – who lost her brother Tam to pancreatic cancer – on a tour of all four UK parliaments to hand in our open letters for the campaign and Isla’s impactful Change.org petition.
At every stop of our hand-in tour, politicians and ministers showed up, listened to us, and raised our concerns in their parliaments. And now, the UK Government has responded to our demands.
Regular monitoring for those at highest risk of pancreatic cancer was one of the main demands for our campaign.
We were delighted to work with the NHS to develop a new initiative to identify people with diabetes at risk of pancreatic cancer, and this has now been launched by the NHS. The project promises to catch more people with pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage in England.
What I am more than happy to do, Delyth, is to agree that we should have a meeting with Pancreatic Cancer UK to talk about their cause, to talk about what the Welsh Government is already doing in this space, and perhaps what more we can do to accelerate the improvement in the diagnostics and treatment that you identify. Diolch.
Standing together has meant we’ve made some great progress. But these next few months will give us even more opportunities to transform pancreatic cancer survival.
In England, the Department of Health is finalising its new Cancer Plan for England. If this plan incorporates the demands of our campaign, it could be a gamechanger for everyone affected by pancreatic cancer.
In the Devolved Nations, we will take forward the brilliant opportunities you’ve helped us to secure, including meetings with senior officials in Wales and dedicated sessions on pancreatic cancer across the Senedd, Stormont and Holyrood.
The momentum you have built by signing your name will make sure our voices are heard as people across Wales and Scotland go to the polls for their national elections next May.
Over the next few months, we’ll need to shout louder than ever before to make sure pancreatic cancer gets the attention it deserves.
Make sure you’re part of it. By joining our Campaigns Community alongside 6,000 others like you, you can use your voice to do even more.
