The Isle of Man Council of Cancer Charities (CCC) is an Isle of Man charity that brings together and represents all the local cancer charities for the benefit of all cancer patients on the island.

At a meeting recently the CCC discussed the way forward for cancer care over the next three years and how the charity could best support it.

The meeting was attended by representatives from 10 cancer charities; board members from Manx Care, including its chief executive, Teresa Cope, and members of the Health Service Consultants Committee.

David Gawne, a director of the CCC, said: ’We are putting down the foundations for the future and Manx Care have indicated their willingness to work with the charities. They have shown their enthusiasm to improve cancer services.

’We all want to build a series of cancer pathways and we want to encourage people to get into this and be part of it.’

This comes at a time when the UK press is full of scare stories about cancer screening and treatments being seriously impacted by Covid and predicting that the number of cancer deaths will rise.

Julie Stokes is also director of the CCC and chairman of Manx Breast Cancer Support Group.

She said: ’The two-week wait for breast screening went right up to six weeks and beyond, which was a real concern to the charity.

’Obviously, the sooner you’re seen, the better the outcome and it’s the same throughout all the different tumour types.

’Apart from a short time during the first lockdown, the breast screening service actually never stopped but the trouble was an awful lot of people never turned up for their appointments.

’We had a lot of no-shows and we actually put a post on our charity’s website saying: "They’ve done their very best to make it safe - please go".’

This reluctance of people to risk going out for an appointment, coupled with the fact that GPs hadn’t been seeing patients, led to a ’massive’ increase in the amount of referrals when the first lockdown was over and people felt safe to go out once more.

Julie said: ’The staff at the Breast Unit worked hard to catch up. More staff have been brought in and they are now putting on some extra clinics which is good news for patients.’

She added that results and any treatment required are still being delivered and have not slowed down.

Looking to the future of cancer care on the island, David Gawne said: ’We posed the question: "What do they consider the principal objectives of the CCC should be?"

’We discussed how the different charities see certain cancer services being developed and delivered over the next three years and we all see the need for more collaborative working and good communications back to the island when people go across for treatment.’

One of the things that was raised at the meeting was the issue of cancer survivors being identified as such, so that they are ’red flagged’ when they phone their doctor as needing to be seen urgently when they report unexplained pain or symptoms.

Another was the need for a hub at Noble’s Hospital which could be used by all the members of the CCC and where newly diagnosed patients would be able to get more information.

Julie Stokes said: ’The CCC is evolving, with new trustees and a new basis: we’ve set up the website and we’ve changed it to help patients, to make it a one stop shop for information - what is available and how do I access it?’

The ending of lockdown has also meant that the Cancer Service Users’ Forum will be starting to hold their "meet the consultants" evenings once more.

These give patients the chance to speak to a consultant and ask questions on an informal basis.

All of this should help cancer patients to feel more supported in the future and the CCC is also looking for input from the patients themselves.

David Gawne said: ’I think what we’re all saying is: "Let’s put service users first".

’We need to know how they feel, we need to know what their views are, and as charities we are perhaps best placed to get that information.

’So, if you’re a patient or a carer, we want to hear from you. You have a role to play and we can support you.’