Public involvement
People and Communities
Public involvement means working in partnership with people – patients, carers, families, and communities – to understand their experiences and what matters most to them. We are passionate about making sure that patient voice is at the heart of everything we do to shape cancer services that are inclusive, effective, and compassionate.
Public involvement can take many forms:
- Informing: Sharing timely, accessible information.
- Listening: Gathering feedback and insights from people with lived experience.
- Partnering: Co-designing services, resources, and strategies.
- Influencing: Including lay representatives in decision-making forums
Our Approach: The NCA Framework for Public Involvement
Our framework was co-produced with people with lived experience, community members, and professionals across health, local authority, and third sector organisations. It sets out the values and principles that guide our work:
- Respect
- Transparency
- Inclusion
- Feedback
The framework includes:
- Six Quality Standards that guide our approach to data use, relationships, communication, governance, learning, and impact.
- A commitment to inclusive co-production, ensuring diverse voices shape our work.
- A focus on early and ongoing engagement, not just consultation at the end.
We use a mixed model of engagement:
- Wider Public: Supporting awareness and prevention through community partnerships.
- People with Lived Experience: Improving services through co-design and feedback.
- Lay Representatives: Providing strategic input and acting as critical friends
Everything starts with people. Whether it’s improving early diagnosis, developing treatment services, or supporting life after cancer, we involve people to improve outcomes.
👉 NCA Public Involvement Strategy
Governance: NCA Public Involvement Accountability Forum (PIAF)
The PIAF is central to our governance structures. It ensures that public voices are heard and acted upon by:
- Scrutinising the NCA workplan and its public involvement practice.
- Supporting collaborative relationships.
- Providing assurance to the Alliance Board.
- Reflecting the diversity of our region through inclusive membership.
Membership of the forum is reflective of health inequalities and includes people affected by cancer; patient partner representatives; NCA Lay Representatives; community groups and organisations; cancer commissioners; secondary care clinicians; cancer charities Northern Cancer Alliance core team; and ICB patient experience leads. Each member of the forum is required to provide input from a wide specialism/knowledge perspective and to influence their networks.
Each year, members of PIAF provide feedback on an annual involvement report to the Alliance Board. This forms part of the assurance process for effective public involvement across the Alliance work plan.
