Cancer Matters Wessex & Cancer Care Map | A partnership that benefits the population of Dorset, Hampshire & the Isle of Wight | Guest Post

27 October 2021 — david-allen

We at Cancer Care Map, as well as having our inventory of cancer support services, we also work directly with cancer alliances and organisations to help signpost services in more regional and localised areas. Here, Cancer Matters Wessex tell us how our partnership helps those living in Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

At Cancer Matters Wessex we aim to ensure that everybody affected by cancer can find the information and support they need, when they need it.

Serving a population of 2.7 million people, our public-facing website was commissioned by the Wessex Cancer Alliance and Macmillan Cancer Support. Cancer Matters Wessex is here for you if you are affected by cancer, whether as a patient, carer, family member or friend.

We are first and foremost a signposting website – we know we can never replace the vital human interaction provided by cancer care teams and our wonderful volunteers. Nor do we attempt to recreate the excellent, detailed cancer information on websites like the NHS, Macmillan Cancer Support or Cancer Research UK. We are happy if someone comes to our website and quickly finds a link to what they are looking for somewhere else!

From our home page we help each visitor to navigate to the information most relevant to them, depending on their circumstances. This could be the Wessex fast track referral process, or how cancer is diagnosed and treated and what follow-up care you can expect to receive in the integrated health systems. We strive to provide clear, relevant local content, with news, events, projects and campaigns that will be of use and interest to our population.

We knew we wanted a comprehensive directory of local services on the website, one that patients could search themselves and could also be used by healthcare staff and volunteers to help people they meet who are not digitally enabled or less confident with technology. In 2021 we teamed up with Cancer Care Map who act as our search engine for cancer support groups and services. Visitors can follow links to our find support near you page where they can choose to watch the Welcome to Cancer Care Map video before being taken to the site.

Cancer Care Map provide the platform, an intuitive search function and a clearly laid out results page, while we can submit new entries for the directory based on local knowledge. Metrics show a high number of visitors to the Cancer Care Map from our region, including Southampton, Bournemouth and Dorchester. It’s an ongoing project, and with the help of CCM’s dedicated team of quality-checkers we will continue to develop and enhance the range of services that can be discovered using the map.

Please visit Cancer Matters Wessex to see how the Cancer Care Map has been embedded into the site. If you have any comments about the site, or questions about our partnership, you can get in touch through our contact us page.