MP Drop-in Session on Pancreatic Cancer
MP Drop-In Meeting on Pancreatic Cancer: 13th November 2017
November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, which means that we will be campaigning for the government to make changes to pancreatic cancer care in the UK.
Your help is vital if this is to be successful. Your support gives real weight to our campaigning efforts.
So, what are we going to be doing and how can you help?
Together with Nic Dakin MP (Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Pancreatic Cancer) we will be holding a drop-in session for Members of both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The drop-in session is an opportunity for Members to become better informed about the issues surrounding pancreatic cancer care and how they can better help those they represent.
Click here to see our poster for the event
How you can help with this:
We need to get as many Members there as possible. Please encourage your MP to attend our drop-in session. It won’t take up much of their time!
How to ask your MP to attend
1. Find out who your MP is!
Not everyone knows who their representative is, don’t worry, it’s easy to find out. If you head over to the website They Work For You where you can put in your post code to quickly find out who your MP is.
2. Prepare yourself
Work out what you want to say:
Find out a bit about the MP
Doing a bit of research on your MP may give you an idea on how well informed they are. It might be that they are part of the APPG on Pancreatic Cancer or have spoken about pancreatic cancer in parliament. The best place to look at is their website or www.theyworkforyou.com.
3. Send them a letter / e-mail
Here’s a template letter for you to send by post or email, which explains what the drop-in session is about why they should come. We also have our poster with the event details here, be sure to send this along with your letter asking them to attend.
Click here to download our sample letter template to send to your MP
4. Use social media
Many Members of both houses are on social media, this can be an effective and easy way of bringing issues to their attention. Remember to briefly highlight how pancreatic cancer has affected you personally.
5. Hit the phones
Very few people lobby their MP by phone but it can be a great way to get heard and initiate discussions. If you decide to call them, prepare in advance what you want to say and keep it concise to include, at most, your top concerns or issues.
6. If at first you don’t succeed…
MPs are busy people if you don’t hear back from them, don’t be afraid to try again a few days after trying.
7. Say thank you
Don’t forget to thank your representative for attending, it’s just polite for starters but also it helps to keep the issue alive.
Do thank your MP publicly on social media, especially if there are any photos of them at the event. This helps raise the profile of pancreatic cancer and helps build a relationship with your representative.