In May, OUTpatients were invited to attend Hologic’s Patient Advocacy Day “Stronger Together”, where groups from across the sector convened to discuss improvements to cervical cancer care.
This is an especially important area of work for us: LGBTQI+ people face various barriers to accessing cervical screenings, and as a result are less likely to be up-to-date with this potentially life-saving intervention. To tackle this disparity, we need health professionals and decision makers to understand our needs, and build solutions into their work.
The day began with a Parliamentary reception convened by Gill Furniss MP at the House of Commons. The dinner was a good networking opportunity for attending patient advocacy groups (PAG), with the opening statements by Gill Furniss and Athena Lamnisos, CEO of The Eve Appeal, setting the tone for the 2 days.
The second day brought together different voices in the sector, from healthcare professionals to PAGs, to share insights on improving equity in cervical cancer care.
The sessions were extremely insightful, particularly one presented by two healthcare professionals entitled ‘The vital link: strengthening the provider-patient touch points for optimal health outcomes’. Highlighting the importance of targeting access points, the speakers advocated for better outreach and personalised care for intersectional communities. We were also impressed by a session on how to improve social media impact to connect with the audiences and raise awareness.
The workshops gave us a timely opportunity to amplify the new Opt-in updates in the Cervical Screening programme, and the Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan published recently. In addition, it allowed us to form new connections and bring forward collective concerns and priorities for the upcoming National Cancer Plan. We were inspired to hear about the stories of success and different models of working from PAGs across the globe.
We are very grateful to the organisers at Hologic and The Eve Appeal, are excited to grow this partnership forward.
If you are hosting an event soon and would like OUTpatients to join you, please reach out to our Engagement Lead, Raktim!