An impactful month in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Thanks to your support of our Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives. campaign this Spring, we've got the attention of the parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in November 2025, we built on this momentum across Holyrood, the Senedd and Stormont. Our devolved nations team shares what we got up to, and what’s next in 2026.
Our month in Scotland
In Scotland, many Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) stood alongside us, and fellow charity Pancreatic Cancer Action, to demand progress. We also supported a special members’ debate for World Pancreatic Cancer Day.
Thanks to hundreds of our Scottish supporters who urged their representative to attend, the chamber was packed out, and several MSPs made impassioned speeches demanding better for people with pancreatic cancer.
Our month in Wales
In Wales, campaigner Isla helped us to secure a commitment from Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Health and Social Care to focus on the less survivable cancers. We also put pancreatic cancer in the spotlight at a special session of the Cross Party Group on Cancer that you helped us secure through our campaign.
Our month in Northern Ireland
The Northern Irish Assembly put the spotlight on pancreatic cancer too during an debate on cancer services and outcomes. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) emphasised the urgent need for improvements to earlier diagnosis and survival outcomes in Northern Ireland, with pancreatic cancer used as an example throughout.
What’s next?
There’s so much coming up in 2026, and we’ll need your help to keep pancreatic cancer on the agenda.
Coming up in Scotland
This year’s strong influencing work in Scotland was rounded off with a presentation on early diagnosis and research at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Cancer in December. We used the session to spotlight the concerningly high rates of late diagnoses in Scotland, with Isla poignantly delivering the story of her brother, Tam, to underline the real lives affected by this issue. The session then looked at some promising work taking place at the University of Glasgow where researchers, funded by us, are aiming to find new ways to spot pancreatic cancer earlier with the help of world-leading technologies.
Turning our attention to the new year, we’re keeping up our Scottish Parliament engagement alongside the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce. In January, we’ll be supporting a parliamentary drop-in event where researchers will share their work to improve outcomes for Scotland’s most challenging cancers with MSPs. We’ll also be working with the Taskforce to promote its manifesto ahead of the election in May in a bid to get Less Survivable Cancers firmly on the agenda of the next Scottish Government.
Coming up in Northern Ireland
Across in Northern Ireland, we’re looking forward to January, when we’ll be attending a showcase event in Stormont alongside the Northern Ireland Cancer Charities Coalition. The event will allow us to highlight our work through a meet and greet session, offering Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) the chance to hear first-hand about what we do as a charity.
We’re also excited to be presenting at the All-Party Group on Cancer later on in March, where we’ll be talking about the importance of early diagnosis: another excellent result of the Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives. campaign!
Coming up in Wales
We’ve had an action-packed end to 2025 in Wales as a result of the Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives. campaign.
This was topped off with a presentation at the Cross-Party Group on Cancer on opportunities to improve the earlier and faster diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Wales.
The presentation gave an excellent platform for those working within the pancreatic cancer space to voice their opinions on how to best improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer in Wales.
We’re looking forward to building on this momentum as we head into the Senedd Elections this May, where we will continue to make sure pancreatic and the less survivable cancers are at the forefront of each party’s health manifesto.
We’ll be focussing on this during the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce drop-in event in January at the Senedd, which will give us a brilliant opportunity to highlight the need for a targeted approach to these cancers pre and post Senedd elections.
