Write to your local politician

Help us represent patients throughout the year! Early diagnosis and improving the survival rate of pancreatic cancer is a challenge and we still have a long way to go. It can sometimes feel difficult to know the best way to help and how to make a difference. One of the simplest ways of campaigning is by contacting your local politician.

How can contacting my local politician help?

Your local politician is there to help with matters that central government are responsible for. This includes the health service and policies that affect pancreatic cancer. Your local politician represents the concerns of their constituents, this is on average around 70,000 people. Therefore, your local politician is likely to receive a lot of communication and it‘s important to have a simple and powerful ask.

It also helps if local politicians receive communication from multiple constituents. Asking local family and friends who share your concerns to write may help to amplify your voice.

Different ways of contacting your local politician

What shall I write about?

When contacting your local politician, you can discuss the issues about pancreatic cancer that concern you, and also let them know how they can get involved.

Current concerns include:

• Survival rates for pancreatic cancer are under 8%; early diagnosis is key to survival
• The recent drop in GP referrals for pancreatic cancer
• Unless services can be restored, the backlog of non-COVID patients will result in excess deaths and a huge ongoing challenge for NHS services that are already under intense pressure
• Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month - you can ask what they're doing, and if not anything, why?

You can ask them to:

• Join the APPG for pancreatic cancer
• Raise issues in parliament and help Pancreatic Cancer Action in our calls for a public health campaign to raise awareness of cancer symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Write to the relevant NHS bodies and advocate for pancreatic cancer patients at a time when their voices risk being forgotten.
• Help clarify how cancer hubs will provide diagnostics, surgery and treatments for pancreatic cancer patients and the long-term plan for managing cancer services alongside Covid and during the recovery phase

What should I say in a face to face meeting?

Meeting your local politician

If you decide to meet with your local politician, then it is a good idea to plan what you want to say to them beforehand. They are unlikely to be well informed about pancreatic cancer and therefore you may need to lead the conversation and explain your concerns. You can take them some of Pancreatic Cancer Action's awareness materials to help you make your points and give them something to take away. It is also a good idea to take a pen and notepad to take notes on your conversation.

Following up

If your local politician does agree to act on the issues you have raised remember to thank them. At this point you may want to organise another meeting to develop ideas with them about what more can be done to progress the issue.

And remember, if they have not done what they had agreed to do, contact them to ask them if they are still intending to carry out what they had agreed and if there’s anything you can do to.