CancerBACUP has helped over a million people...and counting

Cancer doesn't just affect the people with the disease. It has a massive impact on families and friends as well. In Britain, over 850 families hear the diagnosis each day. The National Health Service helps the patient fight the disease. But that's only half the battle. There is a huge need for high quality, personal support and information for everyone who is living with cancer.

What we do

• CancerBACUP helps people whose lives are affected by cancer by providing information, emotional support and counselling. We are recognised as the foremost provider of cancer information in the United Kingdom.
• CancerBACUP's specialist cancer nurses provide information and help by phone, letter and through a comprehensive range of booklets written by cancer specialists specifically for cancer patients.
• CancerBACUP offers free face to face counselling at our offices in London and Glasgow.
• CancerBACUP offers specialist information for the medical profession on difficult and controversial cancer issues.
• CancerBACUP works to enhance the quality of patient care and increase awareness of the psychological and support needs of cancer patients and those who care for them. 
• There is also a wider need for a greater understanding of the way cancer affects lives - in the health professions, in government and in society.CancerBACUP helps here too, as an advocate, a physician's resource and a source of balanced, reliable information for the media.

Future plans

We plan to open new regional centres in hospitals across the UK so that we can be there on the spot for more people.

We are expanding our role as an advocate for patients' right to information. For example, by developing our contacts with the major political parties we can help ensure that patients' interests are taken into account when new health care initiatives are planned. Increasingly, we are the cancer charity journalists turn to for information for relevant articles and programmes.

Through activities such as these, people become more aware of us and what we do, which means that we will be able to help more people - which is what we're here for.

Dr Maurice L Slevin MD FRCP