Long Term Plan Greater Manchester Cancer Report

The 10 local Healthwatch in the Greater Manchester area engaged 26 people who gave feedback on cancer services. This was part of the network-wide NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) project. 

The report found that people's experience of cancer services was generally positive when they received a diagnosis. It was also reported that the majority of respondents had a positive experience when getting support during their cancer care. Following a comparison between waiting times and overall experience it would appear that with longer waiting times, both for diagnosis and waiting for treatment, there is an increase in negative sentiment. Most people had made use of the internet for ‘information about general health and wellbeing issues’, they had also been using ‘online information about conditions’ and ‘online peer support’. It was highlighted that local support groups were beneficial and online peer support groups were used frequently. 

The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care (GMHSC) Partnership responded to this report.