A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet with the PPIE team at the Royal Marsden. Their role is public and patient involvement, and they do an amazing job to engage patients and local communities with the work of the hospital. I had a great conversation with them about their work and also a really constructive conversation about how I might be able to involve some current or former patients in my project.
The immediate suggestions were that I have a page on their platform the Cancer Patients’ Voice and that they approach the patients on their database to see if anyone would be interested in being involved. These are both ways they habitually give patients the opportunity to join research or other activities at the hospital where patients’ input is crucial. And while my project is no way typical of the kind of thing that normally features, I was grateful that they didn’t see that as a problem – in fact they were enthusiastic about having a different sort of activity that patients might be interested to contributing to.
These images above show my page as it was published at the beginning of November. I’m also delighted that I’ve already had contacts from a number of current patients who are interested to find out more about being interviewees for the project. I am delighted as it feels llike the patients’ point of view is an critical part of understanding the ecology of cancer treatment.
GLASS BODIES 